I am from

I did this once before but I didn't know, at that time, that there was a template. Maggie just pointed it out. So I tried it again. I think that in my original version, where I'm from sounds like a happy, interesting place, while this updated version just sounds lonely.

I am from card games played around the kitchen table, from Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.

I am from houses chosen with active children in mind yet full of books and the space to be alone, from gnats and grass and unassigned land that may be, at least temporarily, claimed.

I am from flowering annuals.

I am from a table set for five, fork on the left knife spoon and paper napkin on the right, and dishes washed immediately after dinner. I am from Harry and Donna.

I am from independence and self-reliance, criticism and laughter.

From "You're smart; you can figure it out" and "I can't make that decision for you."

I am from an unspoken belief system.

I'm from a birthplace I wouldn't recognize and can't reliably spell, from ancestral American towns visited on occasional summer vacations. I am from steak and potatoes.

I am from stories that begin, "Remember when we went to..."

I'm from a place very far away, greener and wetter and more humid and full of bugs than where I now make my home; but I from people who often come by.