Stranger in a familiar land

A great many things have happened in the last two months.

I have a never ending fascination with nature vs. nurture and how environment shapes the individual. For five weeks I was in SD. I had lived in SD for over a decade (with a mini-stint in LA that we hardly ever discuss). We moved away from there 5 1/2 years ago (it took a good year to finally leave). But now I was back to do some work.

I have lots of friends and business associates there. People I adore. And its not like this was my first time back. I have done five other gigs there of similar lengths of time.

But this time was different. I made an interesting discovery about myself. I have been heavily influenced by my current environment. Since moving to my little mountain/beach community I have:
1. grown much more environmentally aware
2. really looked at the role of media as it impacts my life and that of my child.
3. become increasingly concerned about the food we eat


Now is it the environment or the people that I am hanging our with? The group of women here that I call my friends are not in the same business as I am. Our original commonality was the fact that we all had kids the same age - but in many cases our friendships have grown beyond that and the fact that our kids can play together is now a bonus and not the reason to hang out.

But what happened in SD?
The new folks I was working with were all under 30 and childless -- and their feeling about the environment and the world are very different.
My friends (most of whom have kids) lead a very different lifestyle - from showing PG rated movies to 2 year olds and eating food that list chemicals as the first ingredient.
No one could tell me where I could find a farmers market.

I am not judging- I've let my kid see non-age appropriate stuff (the simpsons) and fed her enriched hot dog buns . But I wondered if I would be doing the same thing if I had stayed there?

I laugh that I vowed to never get "crunchy" - and yet here I am - composting, taking my own cup into coffee houses as to not use a paper one.

My trip was at times incredibly familiar and at other times completely disorientating.

I missed SD a lot, which did surprised me. I missed the landscape, the accessibility of "things" and mostly, my friends.