Feels Like Family

As I write this, I'm sitting at a picnic table, outdoors, overlooking the hustle and bustle of city life. Those that drive/walk by have no idea that I have a bird's-eye view of what is going on down below. I rather like it up here during the day...it's kind of like being in a huge tree house. My favorite time of the day is dusk, just right when the sun sinks below the horizon; Sacramento's cityscape is quite impressive. But when night falls, I sorta miss looking up and seeing every star in the night sky...the sound of crickets, owl hoots, and perhaps a lone coyote howl or two.

I lived in Amador County for about ten years, eight of those years were spent upcountry in Pioneer. My move to Nashville, TN in 2008 was nothing less of an epic adventure, and when I returned to what I call my "California home", one of the first things I did was look up into the night sky and think, "I'm home."

I maintained Amador Community News while in Nashville, TN. In fact, I received several emails and Facebook messages from people who told me that I knew more about what was going on in Amador County than they did! I got invites to local events, meetings, activities...and had to respond: "I'd love to, but it would be a mere 3,000-mile drive."  Now I'm only an hour's drive away (or less), and I still find myself thinking about all of the things that make Amador County truly wonderful. The thing that stands out in my mind the most? It still feels like family.

One of my favorite people in the entire world is Lauren Ellis. She is a chick guitarist extraordinaire, and made me "feel like family" even before I first rolled into Nashville. Sensible, practical-minded, and incredibly talented...I would occasionally walk into Rock Block Guitars (where she was the guitar tech) and would look up to see her in the loft, working away on someone's guitar, whether owned by an amateur or celebrity. She'd crack me up as she'd look down from the loft with her coke-bottle eyeglasses on, and smile a signature half-smile that would make me think, "Okay, what is she up to now?"

I thought of Lauren's song, "Feels Like Family" as I looked at Nashville in my rear-view mirror (yeah, how cliche is that). What makes a "family"? Is it blood-line, about DNA? Is it about marriage, a relationship, a friendship, people living together under one roof? Is it about name and generation? Is it about familiarity, commonality?
 
I've never regretted my time in Nashville, but there's something about a true sense of family that resonates within the heart's core. On my road trip back to California, I'd walk into a roadside cafe as a total and complete stranger and left feeling "like family". I stopped at a truck stop in the middle of Nevada to rest and refresh my coffee cup, talked to the truckers in the rest areas, and left feeling "like family". I got stranded on the side of the road about 1.5 hours out of Denver, CO and who came to my rescue? Family.

What makes a family? Maybe all of the above, but for me personally, it is about a community of people that share their lives, warts and all. It's about walking into a local business and talking about the weather. It's about leaning over the back fence and shooting the shit. It's about having "Facelook" time with friends at the local cafe, catching up on the latest drama du jour. It's about taking the moments to really think about who we are, where we've been, where we're going...and the people that accompany us on that journey.

I'm up in "The County" only about twice a week now...and thanks to Facebook, heck...I'm with you all the time! Email me if you'd like to meet up and, well...shoot the shit! ;)

"We come to this world the way we leave

Speed through those moments in between

Always searching for something that feels like family."

(From "Feels Like Family", Lauren Ellis, Feels Like Family,

NOTE: My favorite album by Lauren is "Push the River", but all of her music is awesome. Check her out at: www.laurenellis.com


YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvkC2ukaNY