Ahhhh… home sweet home, wait… this is home? It’s just dirt and Joshua trees. That’s right, dirt and Joshua trees, also known as Palmdale, CA. But wait, there’s more!… I think.
Whenever I get asked where I am from, I used to always try to make it sound like I am from Los Angeles because everyone knows what that is, where it is, what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it tastes like, but the thing is, I don’t know jack about the areas or streets in LA and I’ll have no idea what I’m saying when someone starts busting out area codes and other things mid-conversation, so I just dropped that way of responding to that question completely (with the exception of mentioning that Palmdale is from LA County). You may wonder, what’s the best way to respond to this question when you come from a deserted, I mean desert, city like Palmdale? What’s so great about Palmdale?
Living in a town like Palmdale, your experience there will reflect on what you make of it; you will always hear mixed reviews from every place you go to because not everything is for everyone. Personally, I enjoyed my 10 years of living in Palmdale/Lancaster not because of the activities at your disposal (there aren’t many), but because of the people. The people of the Antelope Valley may not be an attractive quality of the city on paper, but in all honesty, there are plenty of diamonds in the rough. The school spirit that radiated throughout my high school will truly be my most beloved and missed trait of home. I have met many friends here — whether it’d be from football, clubs, classes, lunch, or wherever — who I will be connected with for a long, long time. Also, Afroman was born in Palmdale, so that’s a plus.
Growing up, I never really took a step back to visualize what I had. The idea of “you never know what you have until it’s gone,” really hit home (literally) to me in the past few weeks of college. This relates to me because I come from a not very well known city and people (living in Palmdale) always talked about how they wanted to leave it and I sometimes agreed with them, but after being away from home for while now, I have realized how much I loved it there. Palmdale is my home. Now when someone asks me that, what used to be dreaded, question, I now respond by telling them I am indeed from Palmdale and I take pride in it.