Chasing Cities

If I close my eyes and think of a happy place, I'll see the Seine River. I'd walk along the cobblestone steps, just as the sun was setting and the city lights of Paris were just beginning to shine. In the distance, the Eiffel Tower would be peeking out above the autumn trees, making me think "Wow, it's just like the picture," as I try to put it down into words.


What are places anyway? What's a home location as opposed to a vacation destination? How is it that they both bring about different emotions within us, such as comfort and nostalgia versus the excitement of a new adventure?

Last week my sister left to New York. A courageous thing to do no doubt. New York is the Paris of the U.S., is it not? So it made me wonder, can a city bring happiness? Will it bring her happiness? I think of my time in Paris and I think about how happy I felt when I was there. Would it still give me that same feeling if I lived there? Or would that all change?

I think about home, all the things I love about it, and all the things I hate. And most of all, all of the things I miss.

Those, like my sister, going off to new cities and relocating, I wonder what they're chasing after. Hope? Love? Adventure? A fresh start?

And as I sit in a coffee shop in Seattle, I can't help but ask myself the same thing: what am I chasing after?