Page 4 January 2015 Camelback feels like home By Amanda Goossen I’m a California girl. With blue eyes and long blond hair, I’ve always looked the part. My heart has strong ties to my San Diego homeland, but over time I’ve realized there is more to my connection with the city than just location. My life began in sunny San Diego, with a tight-knit family full of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. There are few moments I remember from my childhood that do not include my beautiful grandmother, my kind and gentle grandfather and my fun-loving cousin and best friend, Rhiannon. It was a time in life that Kodak would have plastered all over their commercials. Smiling faces, high- pitch laughter and sunshine was aplenty. When I was 8 years old, my immediate family moved away to Las Vegas, leaving my beloved childhood behind for Sin City where we knew no one and nothing. Perfect little suburban housing complexes had just been built 20 minutes from the Las Vegas strip where every home looked the same: a depressing stucco beige. It was as if the master planners were trying to save all the color of the city for the bright blinking lights of the casinos. We literally got lost in our own neighborhood multiple times, simply because everything was neutral. Nothing had character. Nothing looked like California. I did eventually make great memories in Las Vegas. It was where I changed from a girl to a grown-up, made lifelong friends, learned about life, and met the man I love. But I always knew it was far from where I wanted to build my life. California had never stopped calling my name. I moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, the day my husband and I returned from our honeymoon. I was a girl with old-fashioned values after all, and only moved in with my man once my wedding band was tightly on   I soon realized, however that California was not the reason I loved California. My family was the reason. My memories were the reason. Blue skies and miles of beaches were great, but my roots, my people, they were what I needed; they were my missing piece. Before long, any chance I got, I loaded up my ’96 dark purple Honda Accord and raced to the city I loved, even for an afternoon. Taking the 405 southbound, I could be in San Diego from Los Angeles in less than two hours. I drove too fast and listened to music way too loud. I was 20 years old and living the dream. I was home and felt it in my soul. Life in Los Angeles, with frequent trips to San Diego, is a time I treasure. I would spend the night on my cousin’s couch or spend a day with my grandparents, taking them to lunch and picking up their simple needs at the grocery store. I’m not sure I had ever been so happy in my life. Until 2011. When life moved us to Phoenix, Arizona. I thought I was going to die. Seriously. Leaving my home, to once again live in the dreaded desert. I was sick. I denied it. I refused to pack. But somehow the moving truck came anyway and off we went to Arizona.      on a big beautiful mountain named Camelback. I’ve never exercised. I’m awkward and uncoordinated. I’ve always felt one step behind and slightly ridiculous. My body would ache so badly the day after any          days, even weeks to recover. It was as if I was allergic to exercise. Or maybe I was just a total wimp. But somehow, the day I stepped onto the mountain in this city, I felt at home. With the dirt under my feet, the incline of the mountain, the tightening of my calves, it all felt like home to me in a way I had never imagined. I was content. Looking out onto the city after reaching the second or third plateau, I felt my spirit awakening. I knew I no longer needed San Diego to be less than two hours away. I no longer desired the beach and salty air. On Camelback, in Arizona, in life, I was home. Religious Instruction • Strong Academics • Cutting Edge Technology Leadership Programs • PE and Interscholastic Sports • Instrumental and Vocal Music “Arts Attack” Program • School Nurse • Bus Transportation Available Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - 9am to 2pm & 5pm to 7pm Scholarship Information Meeting (K-8) - 6:30pm Kindergarten Information Meeting - 7:00pm Please join us for our January open house to meet our staff and see what makes us special! 3901 East Indian School Road • 602-957-7010 • www.clsphx.org CHRIST LUTHERAN SCHOOL Christian Values. Quality Education. Preschool through Grade 8 Maybe YOUR home is the next... Contact editor@arcadianews.com