A note from Dr. Hendrix
For years I said Salt Lake City was the best place I had ever lived while my heart quietly stayed on the Southern California coast — until one December the same soft haze I loved there settled over this valley. This is that gentle homecoming. I wrote it because sometimes we are already home long before we let ourselves feel it.
I told all who would listen,
Salt Lake City is the best place I’ve ever lived,
deep down though, my feeling of place remained the So Cal coast
It was not for the sun and waves I thought I loved most
It was December when the light haze covers the coast
I then saw the same light haze cover the Salt Lake Valley,
My secret longing for the so cal coast dimmed
I lit up for where I live now
Curious, on my iPad, I looked up haze
I learned that particles holding tiny droplets of water on them are haze
Pollution is haze
Haze is pollution
Neither spot should be my favorite place
I have thought this one out
When I live in any other place,
that will become my favorite place
I’ll be happy in almost any place.
I dare not proclaim a place where pollution
reigns as my favorite place
But the soft haze along the coast
and in the valley below
when the temperature is a tiny bit low
calms my soul