This weekend I am in my hometown of San Jose, California.  The occasion is to run a half marathon with my daughter and various friends.  This marks my 9th half marathon in this calendar year.  If you are a regular reader you will know my goal is to run 12 in a calendar year…which I should be able to accomplish since I have Santa Barbara, Las Vegas and Los Angeles scheduled to end out my year. 

I have no longer been a resident of  San Jose for just a little over 4 years now.  Yesterday I took a little trip down memory lane by visiting my old elementary school.  I even drove down to my old house and walked the sidewalk that I once used to roller skate on and of course pogo stick.  I saw my favorite sidewalk square where I used to play jacks with my friends.  I saw the corner where I used to hide out and throw rocks at the passing cars.  Even though the landscape is of the neighborhood is almost unrecognizable the memory of the emotions still exist.  The emotions that are tied to the events of my childhood still live in my mind. 

I drove over to Hellyer Park where I played as a kid. I witnessed the creek that I used to catch crawdads in and smelled the tall Eucalyptus trees.  I could picture my younger self wading the creek with my homemade net carefully moving the rocks with an eager eye for a flash of red.  I could almost feel the cool water rushing past me as I listened to the melodious sound of the water floating by. 

San Jose is my birthplace, but it is no longer home to me.  I love the crunch of the leaves under my feet as I walk Courtney through the neighborhoods we used to walk before we moved.  I wonder if she remembers since this too is her birthplace.  I wonder if she remembers the squirrel who used to chatter on the fence for her to come out and play and then for hours they would race back and forth along the fence until the squirrel would tire and climb up in the tree out of her view. 

Memory is a beautiful thing.  I love being back to my birthplace, but I am looking forward to seeing my Palm Trees of my beautiful city of Palm Springs.