My Emerald City. What I call my current home. Let me explain.
I moved to my current location in late 2000, but had been coming here for years and fell in love with the city. Long before I moved here, I dubbed it my Emerald City. I called this place my Emerald City based on the Wizard of Oz’s Emerald City, where as you approach it you can see the bright, vibrant glow of the city. The glow of the city as you emerge on the other side of the hill on the turnpike reminded me of the Emerald City. And this city is where I found my wings as an adult, started a new life with my partner and started my career.
Echos of the past
~ Written on April 2, 2022
“Look, Jade, the Emerald City!”
Turnpike memories.
Every weekend I spent here I’d bring my black lab, Jade. She loved coming up here. About 10 miles from the town, I’d exclaim: “Look Jade, there’s the Emerald City!” She quickly associated this with the fact that our 1.5-hour car ride was finally almost over.
She’d perk up and look out the window the rest of the way as the lights grew closer and closer. As the inside of the car became brighter from the city lights, she would wag her tail more and more, becoming excited and ready to be at what would eventually be our new home and new life.
Jade lived out the rest of her life on the outskirts of my Emerald City, chasing combines, of all things. She’d also chase squirrels in the yard, but if the squirrel stopped, she didn’t know what to do with it, so she gave up. She was a gentle, gentle dog, who patiently lived with new puppies and even baby chickens, ducks and geese. She never laid so much as a paw on anything.
May we all have a place to live like my Emerald City and a good pet to live with us like Jade.
The Wandering Pigeon 
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