homegrownjules

The youngest of 5 kids, I'm from a spec on the map called Metamora, a small (but growing) Mid-Western farm town in central Illinois, where my family embraced and lived a DIY, organic life, long before it was cool, trendy, and had hash tags on social media. We didn't have a TV (and limited radio) ---while every pop culture reference as an adult goes over my head, I have an organic degree in gardening, soap making, canning jam and sewing and crocheting. Family vacation was camping in a 7-man tent, cooking every meal over the fire, bathing in lakes and streams with a bar of soap, and enjoying an outdoor world without any technology. Ironically, this is the unplugged world I often try to re-discover as an adult. I left "the farm" for college, earned a degree in English Education, moved to Atlanta, and started my career teaching high school English. My husband and I met and got engaged in 3 weeks; I said yes even though I wasn't positive what his last name was, and now I've been a D'Amico for almost 16 years. I taught English for over a decade and lived for the 1920s unit when my obsession with all things Gatsby came to fruition and I could answer to Daisy Buchanan and wear pearls for 6 weeks straight. I left teaching for the food industry 5 years ago, and went from "selling green beans" in urban Atlanta to leading a sales team in the same market. My husband and I relocated to Sacramento about 3 months ago, and live in the middle of the city, where the Pacific Railway rattles the windows every 9 minutes and the city sounds stream through the open windows reminding me that I'm never alone. I love it, but often scurry to the garage where I have my "homegrownjules studio" set up in the corner and can lose myself in making soap and sewing edges of linen napkins while a canvas of Rainbow Brite and photos of 3-wheelers and cornfields keep me company. This blog has been a collection of anecdotes from childhood nostalgia mixed with emotionally charged present moments where writing feels like a good yoga session. And so it continues....the Sacramento version.