Where are YOU from?

September was the month of getting back to the routines, embracing the change of the seasons and breathing the fresh air at home.  Our weekend travels to our cabin didn’t skip a beat - departing at 5am every Saturday and pulling into our garage in SF at 10:30pm every Sunday. We (should say Derek) got a lot done in the cabin - floors are in, nails holes are being filled, shiplap is installed…

Our family is used to the weekend travels, even though the kids complain about the early morning starts. It feels home when we make it to the cabin and it feels home when we are driving over the Bay Bridge into the city.  That feeling of home made me think about a simple question that I am asked often: “where are you from?”

Well… my simple answer is “I am from Turkey”.  But now, let’s complicate it a little: I am an American citizen, I have been living in San Francisco for more than half of my life, I grew up in Istanbul, etc.  What I really relate to is “l am from San Francisco”.  I have a hard time saying I am American but I have no problem saying that I am San Franciscan.  I can’t say that I am from Istanbul but I am definitely Turkish - very conflicting. Even though I was born and raised in Istanbul, I never related myself to  Istanbul the way I relate myself to San Francisco.  That being said I am proud of being a Turk because that is my heritage. I guess that makes me a San Franciscan Turk. :)

It is hard to believe that I have been in SF for more than half of my life. I celebrated more birthdays in SF than I did in Turkey.

Talking about birthdays, we finally had a birthday celebration at Train and Smile and it was a prime number! Nothing better than celebrating one more turn around the sun… How about you try out the class that we did on 9/13. You need a bottle of wine, unopened. I promise that we don’t shake.

High five to all of you with your upcoming or just past birthdays.

We are from San francisco - this is where we came up with alpine’s name