It's Me, Sara Louise

This post has been sitting in my drafts for ages waiting to be completed, and in the meantime, Jenni from Story of My Life Blog has asked this question as part of Blogtember; ‘describe where you are from, the people, places and factors that make up where you’re from’, so since loads of these posts  have been floating about, I thought I’d incorporate a bit of Jenni’s question into my post.

{Nana’s grandfather on the left with his friend Potter}

Facebook has been prompting me with a question to fill out my profile more, “where are you from?“. I honestly don’t know how to answer that. If I’m asked, “where do you live” fine, that one is easy, or, “where were you born“, not a problem, but “where are you from?” hmmm…

I was born in NYC and after my parents decided that they wanted their kids to have a back yard to run about in, we moved up to Duchess County (not quite upstate but ‘up’… New Yorkers will know what I’m talking about). We moved just outside of a place called Poughkeepsie. (If it sounds familiar it’s because Poughkeepsie is often made fun of in pop culture, usually with jokes on Friends, Sex and the City, and the like… remember that time Charlotte ‘poughkeepsied’ in her pants?). And that’s where I lived for most of my childhood, in a greyish-blue raised ranch at the end of Miller Drive.

{Pop-Pop & Nana}

I went to private school; first an Episcopal one and then onto Catholic school (Dad was an Episcopal Reverend and Mom is Irish Catholic, so I guess they took turns) before entering public school in the sixth grade (I hated it). I swam on the swim team, played a little softball and read encyclopedias for fun because I’m a bit of a nerd. It was pretty standard I guess.

But before that, before that, there was my Irish mother, Eileen, who hails from Dublin, and my dearly departed dad, Tom, from Massachusetts. My dad’s dad, Pop-Pop, was a light skinned African-American with auburn-hued hair and blue eyes, and my Nana was mostly Massasoit, a Native American tribe with deep roots in the Northeast. So I’m a jimblejamble mishmash of cultures, tri-racial as I like to refer to myself but my Nana always said I was Succotash.

{my parents on their wedding day}

When I was twelve, I left New York and moved to Texas with my mother. And then when I was thirteen I moved back to New York to live with my dad but by fourteen I was back in Texas. This went on for a few years…

Fifteen it was back to New York, seventeen back to Texas, and at eighteen I was back in New York for a spell (do you have whiplash yet… I do), and then when I was nineteen I moved back to Texas until Dublin beckoned in my mid-20s.

{with my Nana and my Mickey Mouse sweater vest sporting brother}

The thing is, if I was in New York and you asked me where I was from I might say Texas (I always get asked in New York because of my habit of peppering my speech with y’all) and if I was in Texas and you asked, I’d definitely say New York, but now I don’t have a clue.

When I’d hop in a taxi cab in Dublin and the inquisitive driver would ask me where I was from after hearing my accent, I would answer either New York or Texas depending upon my mood. (Except during the GW Bush years, then it was never, ever Texas due to the long diatribe I’d get in response, and sometimes I’d even say, Canada, and then act like I was busy on my cellphone or something because I really didn’t want the headache. Those were rough days for Americans abroad let me tell you).

{looking sassy in blue with my cousin Malinda}

Now, I usually just answer America but Gregory always tells people I’m Irish as in I’m from Ireland and that drives me batty. But then again, since Ireland is the last place I lived before moving to France, I did come from there so he’s not entirely wrong.

It’s all a little confusing but I think from now on when asked I’ll say, “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! You talkin’ to me? Me, I’m from the land of Succotash.“

P.S. So let me ask you… where are you from? Feel free to give me the unabridged version.