LA love is abundant, blooming, lush and fragrant – let’s make space for it
February 14, 2017. By Cassy Aoyagi: Angelenos have a reputation for superficiality. There may be something to it – we do like our pretty things! But the drought really showcased our substance, our curiosity, and our profound and overwhelming love for our city. Angelenos from Long Beach to the Apple Valley, native-born and imported, have been willing to sacrifice deeply for LA’s wellbeing.
The thing is, at the end of the day, LA loves us back. Just when we are ready to go full-tilt gravel for her, she brings us up short. She doesn’t want us to make that kind of sacrifice. In fact, in the long run, she just won’t respect it. We are seeing that now.
It has been a quick minute since LA rained, but this is not a new normal. LA is just doing LA. In choosing LA as our home, we married a mercurial soul. On the surface, she is all sunshine and sandals, but those of us truly tethered to her know she tends to blow hot and cold. Just when we think she has taken everything we can imagine with sunny smiles and blue skies, she will cry her eyes out for days. Loving her means being ready for all of this.
What does truly loving our girl look like? Well, I don’t want to sound nasty here, but… It is lush. Lush to the point of opulence. It is emerging from a swim with salt on our lips. It is every breathe deeply scented with musky sage and sweet ceanothus. It is vibrant and colorful and full of life. It is bouquet after bouquet all year long.
LA will give us all this. It is also what she needs from us. She needs us to soak up her sunshine and also hold space for her rain. She needs us to avoid getting cactus-prickly or turning to stone when she blows hot for awhile. She needs us to trust that she knows what she needs, that she has developed her wardrobe of natives to handle every occasion she may host, every emotion she may have, any look we may want her to sport.
If we can give LA space to do LA, she’ll give us everything our hearts desire. For the Love of LA, we really need to stop sacrificing.
What do you think? Ready to take your relationship with LA to the next level? Here are a few tips: