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My mother, my grandmother and my grandfather were all born in Philadelphia.  Many members of our extended family were as well.  I was not.  I was born in a smaller town in Pennsylvania called Carlisle.  We moved out west before I was able to walk, and I have only been back to visit Carlisle once since then when I was just ten years old.  And even my memories from that visit are clouded in the memories of a small child, so as I grew older I began to be drawn back to Pennsylvania.  I wanted to visit Carlisle again, but I very much wanted to see and experience Philadelphia.

I had to feel what it was like for my ancestors.  They had all passed away when I was very young so I felt that if I could walk on the streets of Philadelphia, and sit in the parks and the gardens that they had so many years ago, that perhaps I could get to know them in a way.  One of the misconceptions I had of the city before I saw it for the first time, was that it was a working class town, and that it would be filled with factories and smoke stacks.

I was not ready for the beauty that the city presented to me when I went from the airport to my hotel accommodations.  I had looked for an inexpensive hotel, and I found one, but when I walked into the lobby I was shocked by the quaint luxury of the older building.  The next day as I walked the streets, I learned a lot about the city by talking with the people.  I stopped in any small shop, from the butcher shops to the bakeries and the markets on the corner, striking up conversations with everyone I came in contact with.  Much of the food in the markets and the restaurants is locally grown and many of the businesses use forms of alternative energy.  The public transit is out of this world.

Philadelphia was not the concrete, polluted jungle I had thought…It is one of the “greenest” cities in the country.  I was aware that I was in a large city, but I felt more like I was walking through neighborhoods.  There is rich diversity in Philly, from the culture to the people to the arts and businesses.  And when I sat in one of the parks, I closed my eyes and pictured the relatives I knew from my old black and white photographs of them.  I saw them sitting on the benches, in the butcher shop and the bakery and the corner market.  And yes, I do believe I got to know them.  And I do believe that I now feel connected to them, and to the world in which I live today.