#5 reason I love me some Oakland, California.

by

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I’m moving in ten days (!).

As a result, I wanted to spend time sharing the Top 5 Reasons I’ve grown to love Oakland, California. 

These are quintessential Old School Blogging posts.  Filled with minutia of my life.  Crammed with thoughts which only matter to me.

For that reason, I almost closed comments as all I really ask is you spend time—no matter how brief—sharing & carrying these feelings alongside me.

#5 reason I love Oakland, California is because of how much I hated it initially.

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first time seeing OAKTOWN.  smile = fake.

Yep, Oakland. 

I made no bones about the fact initially I held no love for you at all.

We met during an atmospheric river and lets just say that is not your best look. 

I was surprised—as I’d thought Id prepared—by your grime and grit.

I was frustrated by the fact I was compelled to play The Zax to merely *exit* my neighborhood.

I was angry how your residents attempted to break into my car three times in my first weeks here.

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what the heck?!

I complained heavily to friends & family that first month or three.

I hated Oakland.

I didn’t know why I was dragged here.

I wanted to go home.

I never ever thought I’d do anything else while living here other than count the days until I was set free.

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…and wear this shirt.

The thing is, as I discovered one day curled up on my kitchen floor crying over a broken freezer, it wasn’t you, Oakland.

It was me.

I judged you by your surface. 

I decided I knew all about you without bothering to get out there, explore, talk to you and really uncover who & what you were.

Even though my rear-view mirror was tiny and windshield huge I spent my first months here looking behind me.

Rereading old chapters. 

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I wish I could pinpoint precisely when it happened—but all I know is I fell in love.

All I know is one day I stopped, looked back and all I saw was YOU.

Vanished was the lamenting of your smushed streets, assertive homeless and dilapidated playgrounds.

In its place was nothing but love.

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The past 18 months coupled with the lessons my loathing you so passionately (or so I thought) taught me so much about myself is one of the things I most appreciate about you, Oakland.

Having the opportunity to shatter your veneer of ick, smush, & grime and emerge the other side seeing this city for what it really is has been life changing for me.

I came.

I hated.

I pushed through. 

I fell in love. 

I learned.

About Oakland and yet, so much more than that, I was afforded the opportunity to learn a great deal more about about myself.

 

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Comments

  5. People have a hard time getting past the grittiness of parts of Brooklyn, but to me, it lets me know that no matter what, under any circumstance, our city inspires survival and desire. For someone coming from Tehran or Beijing’s underground, that’s huge.

  7. Perspective is everything! I’ve always liked being in Oakland because I had to go through it to get to Berkeley, lol!

  8. This is fantastic. I find it quite relatable b/c when we first moved here from Phila., I came kicking and screaming and hated it. But just like you, I could now work for the Chamber and I have found myself here. Cheers to your next chapter having the same meaning!

  12. What a great post. Thanks for sharing this, Carla! And what a good way to process as you begin to move again…I love how you became a full-blast Oakland person, and now you’ll be a full-blast Austin person again!

  13. This is a great post! I have had many situations where I wasn’t where I wanted to be. It really is a choice if we are going to be happy in our situation.

  14. I was not happy with our current hometown for the first four years we lived here. Then one day I realized that even if it isn’t my ideal home, it has become my home. And that has made all the difference.

  18. It made me so sad when you first came and it was so so hard. And it took me a long while to believe that you actually did fall in love! AND: I have to say, I would be very sad to drive your smushed neighborhood in my bigger car. It’s a labyrinth in there!
    AND: I will miss you more than words can say.

  20. You sure did hate Oakland — even before you left. I hope it’s okay that I’m giggling at you about it. Happy re-Austin-fication! 😉

  21. I know that I have a tendency to be closed minded about some things – I spent years hating the fact that I lived in Kansas. Now I don’t mind living here but in the winters I still tend to complain about the cold and snow.

  25. As a former Oaktown resident, I found so much to love about this post!!

    There indeed is a “there there” (to misquote Gertrude Stein), and there is so much to appreciate even as there are huge frustrations.

    But I also know that you seem to find the good in life wherever you go, while still feeling and acknowledging your authentic reactions to things.

    So I hope the next adventure in your life is wonderful too!

  26. i so get this. It’s never the place or the circumstance.. it’s our hearts, our minds, our mission in life. And it takes a while to really appreciate the growth. Yes!

  27. So many lessons we have yet to learn!

    Such a whirlwind-y time that you were there – it feels like just yesterday that you were moving! Moving can be so ridiculously hard but at least there are the lessons that we can take from it, and so much opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves and become more self-aware (as children AND as adults!).

  28. I needed this more than you know. I hate my new job the way you hated Oakland. I’ve been there 5 days. I hate it so much.

    I don’t think it’s the job.

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