I've been in Ohio for barely more than a day and I'm seriously ready to leave. Somehow, I've grown really sick of this place and the connection I used to feel so deeply is gone. It's not nostalgia I feel as I walk the streets of my childhood, but shame at how left out I always was, at the hundreds of moments when I had no idea what to say or do, how I was always the last one picked for a team, and especially at how mean I became quickly when I finally had a friend or two and the small kernel of self-confidence that went with it.

It just hit me, I don't want to be here. I've finally outgrown this place and the memories it holds for me. My life is in California and it's pretty damn good. Free from the prejudices that seem to form people's identities here and most of all away from the goddamn humidity that turns my hair into a mess every time I walk out the door. My hair is telling me that I'm meant to be in CA. That's all there is to it.