I think there is something comforting about the places we grew up in. My whole life I associated the mountains out West with beauty and peace. In elementary school and college I lived in the city but these cities were surrounded by mountains. My parents took me to their cabin in the mountains every weekend and I spent all my time connected to nature. During middleschool, we permanently moved to that cabin.

In college, when we rode our bikes West of campus, the road quickly became one with hilly terrain and scenic views. That city had an elevation of about 2,000 feet and if we drove up the mountain North of that city, we were at an elevation of 8,000 after only a 45 minute drive. If it is a hot day, you could really escape the heat by driving into the mountains.

When the military transferred me overseas to a place with no mountains--everytime I landed in the airplane, seeing the mountains made me feel like I was at home. When we got out of the military, we moved to a place out East with no mountains. For years and years, it felt weird to land in a place without mountains--it just didn't feel like home somehow. Also, the suntrises and sunsets look different out where I live now compared to where I grew up. Even recently, when I visited my father out West, when I was driving or walking at sunrise or sunset, the beauty of it made me long to live there again. So there are some things about the places we grew up in that we become hooked on.

So if LA feels like home--you should really find a way to go home.