A few months ago at a family reunion an uncle of Brad's said to me "Jenny you're a country girl! How can you live where you live and like it?" and at the time I had no answer, except that I do love it, more then I ever would have imagined. I simply love where I live now, I love living in the city. I feel more at home here then anywhere else I have lived.
Over the past two months I would think about it now and then, and wonder why I felt so at home in the city when I never lived in the city. This morning I went for a run, and I finally made the connection. Grandma Moors!
My Grandma Moors lived inside the city of Philadelphia her entire life. She loved that city with a passion. As a young woman she would walk to mass each morning, then take the subway to her job downtown. She went to the theater, she went to the shows, she went dancing. She walked everywhere. Later, when she married and raised her three children she lived in the city and taught them everything she loved about it.
My grandfather died when I was in middle school, and every summer after he died until I went to college my cousin Bart and I would go stay with her for the whole summer. Those summers were some of the best times of my childhood. She took me to every single museum in Philly. We went to see the Philly's play baseball, we went to Wannamakers to hear the organ play at noon. We went on hikes through Fairmount Park and the zoo. But more then that, I walked with her in the mornings to mass. I walked with her to the grocery store. We picked berries in the park and she taught me how to make jam. We made Bart (who is very tall) pick apples off the trees and she taught me how to make apple sauce. We walked to the library and checked out books. And when it was too hot to walk anywhere she taught me how to crochet and sew. She was always up for an adventure.
The parallels to those summers and my life now are remarkable. I love walking everywhere, I love going to the library again, I love going to the theater and concerts. I am visiting all of my local historical sites. I am doing all of the walking tours in my hood. I am finally home.
So yes I did technically live in the country for most of my life. But my summers were spent in one of America's greatest cities. With one of the greatest role models of my life, my grandma.
Over the past two months I would think about it now and then, and wonder why I felt so at home in the city when I never lived in the city. This morning I went for a run, and I finally made the connection. Grandma Moors!
My Grandma Moors lived inside the city of Philadelphia her entire life. She loved that city with a passion. As a young woman she would walk to mass each morning, then take the subway to her job downtown. She went to the theater, she went to the shows, she went dancing. She walked everywhere. Later, when she married and raised her three children she lived in the city and taught them everything she loved about it.
My grandfather died when I was in middle school, and every summer after he died until I went to college my cousin Bart and I would go stay with her for the whole summer. Those summers were some of the best times of my childhood. She took me to every single museum in Philly. We went to see the Philly's play baseball, we went to Wannamakers to hear the organ play at noon. We went on hikes through Fairmount Park and the zoo. But more then that, I walked with her in the mornings to mass. I walked with her to the grocery store. We picked berries in the park and she taught me how to make jam. We made Bart (who is very tall) pick apples off the trees and she taught me how to make apple sauce. We walked to the library and checked out books. And when it was too hot to walk anywhere she taught me how to crochet and sew. She was always up for an adventure.
The parallels to those summers and my life now are remarkable. I love walking everywhere, I love going to the library again, I love going to the theater and concerts. I am visiting all of my local historical sites. I am doing all of the walking tours in my hood. I am finally home.
So yes I did technically live in the country for most of my life. But my summers were spent in one of America's greatest cities. With one of the greatest role models of my life, my grandma.
Me and Bart downtown Philly....(above)
Grandma, Heidi, and I outside of the Liberty Bell (below)
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