Prompt Entry #1: Growing Up in the City of Trees

I was born in Sacramento, California. I grew up in Citrus Heights, a suburb in Sacramento County. When I think of the landscape that nurtured me, I think of my Grandma's house, my mom's backyard, and Folsom Lake. Behind my Grandma's house, a creek gurgled over rocks, and my cousins and I spent hours searching for rabbits, frogs, and ducks. The memories bring back feelings of simplicity and unity. 

My mom would drag a lawn chair into the middle of our backyard and sunbathe while my brother and I gathered the fruit under the fig tree and mashed them together to make "fig soup." My cousins and neighbors came over to play "Sweeper." My dad would roll around on the grass while we ran from our designated checkpoints- a lawn chair, a loose board in the fence, the trunk of a large Oak. While we were in between checkpoints, my dad would try and "sweep" our feet from beneath us, and we would tumble in the grass. Folsom Lake's northwest side neared my mom's house, and we would visit with towels, sunscreen, and picnic baskets. When my family was whole, everybody seemed to enjoy one another's company outdoors. After my parents' divorce, life seemed to increasingly move inside. 

My brother, family friend, and I eating fresh plums

My parents were both raised in Sacramento. My whole family (except for a few distant relatives) remains there. In California's capital city, the suburbs are surrounded by trees. In fact, Sacramento is known as the "City of Trees." The American River and Sacramento River meet and offer swimming spots, wildlife areas, and hiking trails. I took several school trips to Sutter's Fort, where I learned about the Gold Rush. In childhood, Sacramento carried prosperity and familial unity in a city that still clung to its trees and rivers. 

As time passed, the housing developments started to sprout in any open land. The huge houses all matched one another; they fit as many as they could in a designated space. One person could easily climb from their window to their neighbor's. The yards shrunk until they could barely hold a small garden. As my family fractured, I felt the city start to fracture its identity. The city started to join a uniformity that lacked individuality. I still try to visit the nature spots I spent time in as a child when I'm in Sacramento. The areas where my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents live bring back a taste of that unity and simplicity I felt as I child. The houses in their neighborhoods have flavor; each house is unique and holds thousands of memories in their imperfections. When I'm in those spots, I remember what it felt like as a kid—at home in a place that cherished family prosperity while hanging on to its trees and roots. The outdoors gave me a wholeness, a sense of peace, when I spent my youth among the creeks, lakes, and trees. Even though Sacramento has broken from the unity I felt as a kid, the nature there and everywhere still holds it, and every time I'm surrounded by nature's beauty, I feel the peace and freedom wrap around me once again.