Today's postcard comes to you directly from Key West, Florida, one of my absolutely favorite places in the world. My husband and I first came here on our honeymoon after we were married in 2004, and we've made it a point to come back every year since.
Key West is an interesting place, offering an endless variety of places to see and people to meet. This is, in large part, because so much of the population comes from someplace else, and brings a piece of where they came from with them to add to the mix. There are people from all over the country - even all over the world - here. The welcoming atmosphere of the city makes it all fit together somehow, less like a melting pot and more like a giant colorful jigsaw puzzle.
Because everybody here comes from someplace else, it is pretty common to be asked where you're from. My husband thinks it would be funny, the next time we're asked, to say that we're from Cabot Cove, Maine.
"You wouldn't," I say.
"Sure I would! Give them something to think about."
Good point.
Key West is also special to me as the only place that has - so far - inspired me to write an entire novel-length story, something I wasn't sure I was capable of doing. That story, of course, is Come as You Are, and it remains one of the stories of which I am most proud today.
It's interesting, being back in the same stomping grounds as appear in the book. Now when I'm crossing Duval Street I smile at the image of Seth and Tipper doing the "Duval Crawl." I picture Jessica and George swapping personal questions at a nearby table as my husband and I split a carafe of pinot grigio at Mange Mange. I walk past the side gate to the grounds of Ernest Hemingway's house and see the calico cat that beckoned Jessica inside. It's all pretty cool.
At some point I may set another story here - Key West is full to bursting with colorful characters and settings, so there is certainly no lack of material. If I could figure out a way to take, oh, say, four months off from work and come down here to do nothing but write I could probably pull it off, but alas, such a sabbatical from my real life is not in the cards, at least not for a long while yet.
In the meantime I'll be content with our yearly pilgrimmages down to the Conch Republic, and store up as many memories as I can.
