St. Louis/SD

I don't know what it is but in the last couple of weeks, I have had four separate occasions of random people in San Diego acknowledging/talking to me about their connections with St. Louis.

1. We're at the Del Mar Racetrack two weeks ago, and I'm wearing my So Taguchi Cardinals T-shirt Jersey. This girl walks by with her friends/family and points me out, saying "This is what I'm TALKING about! True fans. Go Cardinals!" while walking away. A slightly amused mother quips "..She's from St. Louis."

2. At Starbucks last week, I was minding my own business, studying by myself because this is the sad sad life I lead nowadays I was trying to get some studying done when the guy next to me wearing a UCSD Surgery fleece says "Excuse me, I saw your laptop sticker (STL represent) and was wondering, are you from St. Louis?" "Oh yeah, I grew up there." This turns into a decently long conversation about how he went to medical school there and his various thoughts about how it really is the most dangerous city in America and how his friend is going there for law school. I converse with him about such topics as best as I can before bringing up the fact that there are actually a lot of people I meet in San Diego from St. Louis. He says "really? I don't know many.." when, IMMEDIATELY,

3. Another guy, older in age, looks up from his laptop about 15 feet away from us and says "You guys talking about St. Louis?" Turns out he grew up there "way back in the day." He makes some comments about how it's a great place to grow up (word), whereas the UCSD Surgery rep repeats his thoughts about crime and violence to this new guy. Point proven.

4. At the Padres Marlins game, a nice older lady looks at my scorebook and asks how long I've been doing it for. I say "about ten years" to which she responds "good for you! You know, there's a new book on Stan Musial, my husband is reading it and he is really enjoying it. Just thought you might enjoy it too." I know about this new book because I am a Cardinals fan. I tell her this and the fact that I used to live in St. Louis, and she responds that her and her husband were originally from St. Louis as well. Apparently they used to live around old Busch (not sure I or II) and listen to Harry Carey while simultaneously hearing the crowd reactions from outside the stadium.

There is no real point to all this, but I just thought it was funny and enjoyable. Every time I have one of these sorts of conversations, I feel an odd rush of adrenaline tinged with nostalgia. I'm glad that I grew up in such a different and pride-evoking place. It has definitely added some dimensions to who I am today.