Home Away From Home

Have I gushed yet on this blog about my hometown?

No? Well let me take this opportunity then, to tell you about Redlands.

Redlands is the perfect home town. First of all, its in Southern California, 45 mins from the mountains, the beach and Disneyland, an hour from Los Angeles. However, it is not like most California towns with their cookie cutter housing developments and depressing white stucco strip malls. Redlands is full of stunning and unique Victorian-era homes with wide wrap-around porches, bay windows, stained glass, steep rooflines and the kind of detail that give each house personality and character. Between these beautiful houses are acres of orange groves that fill the air with the strong scent of orange blossoms. There is a famous picture of Redlands that features a row of orange trees that are towered over by a row of palm trees, towered over by the snow capped mountains. There is an outdoor ampitheatre where they put on musical performaces twice a week throughout the summer for free to the public. The library and the post office were designed by the Smiley brothers, with just as much originality and character as the houses around town. The best and most beautiful building of all is the Redlands Temple, which was dedicated in 2003. There are parks with rose gardens and wide grassy areas. There is an adorable mainstreet downtown lined with local shops and restaurants, which they still close down on Thursday nights for the farmers market. There is still an old-fashioned, but warm and comforting feeling of community identify in Redlands. And as if that weren't enough. It is sunny and warm 360 days a year.

It would of course follow, that such a wonderful place raises some pretty wonderful people - and a few of us got our stars crossed and all ended up in New York... So we took a picture, because we thought it would make our Moms happy to see that we are all friends.

Me, Kate Sonne, Tate Montgomery, and Russell Shafer:


Me: Well, you've all heard my story.

Kate: Is here getting her Master's in education at NYU. I know Kate the best, seeing as how we were in the same Primay and YW classes since we were 8. We even went to Prom in the same group. Nowadays, Kate and I meet up for lunch as often as our schedules will permit. She's still fantastic.

Tate: Tate is actually living on Long Island, but he ventures into the city on occasion. Tate graduated from Loma Linda dental school, but is out here studying a specialty of some kind... Anesthesia, I believe, but don't quote me on that.

Russell: I didn't know Russell so much in my younger days, but we got to be good friends during my 3 years in California after graduating from BYU. Russell lives just a few blocks from me, attends my FHE group, is getting his Master's in Writing at Sarah Lawrence, and basically rocks the Manhattan 8th Ward on a weekly basis.

Hooray for hometowns and the friends that come from them! My little bit of home away from home.