# City Diaries: Hometown Blues

Surprisingly, one of the weirder parts of moving isn't getting used to the unfamiliar aspects of a new city. Instead, it's reacquainting yourself with _familiarity_ when coming back home. It's the feeling of driving down your usual roads, passing former apartments, hanging out at old stomping grounds...and realizing you're now just a **visitor.**

H Coffee House - Los Feliz, Los Angeles

I'm currently in LA for a very short trip back home. And as a write this, I'm sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops. A hidden gem in Los Feliz where the drinks are automatically served in cozy mugs _for here._ Where writers, producers, and nebulous "creatives" work away on Saturdays or the occasional celebrity takes a coffee date with a friend, assuming she won't be bothered by unrelenting tourists or nosy locals. It's a place I spent many Saturdays while I lived in the neighborhood. A spot I fought numerous hours of writer's block, combed through hundreds of my street photos to find the perfect shot, and planned (plotted) my next move to New York.

It's a special place for me. Yet, I can't help feeling weird sitting here pretending to be a local knowing I actually live a few thousand miles vs. a few blocks away.

But, it's a misplaced malaise. And I'm beginning to come to terms with that comfortably uncomfortable feeling of knowing that when I left, nothing changed.

_And that's okay._

-M

April 22, 2017