Actually, I was born and raised in Connecticut, the descendant of 17th century persecuted immigrants from the British Isles, Quakers and Freethinkers.

We Yankees are raised to be undemonstrative, reserved, sober and sedate, not given to emotional outbursts or flamboyant displays. No one hugs or says "I love you" except in intimate encounters (there are always more Yankees in the schools, so I assume the intimate part).

New England Yankees are independent, self-sufficient, not asking anyone's help. Girls are raised to sit quietly, hands folded in their laps, ankles crossed. Girls don't win games, are not contrarian. Which highlights how awesome the suffragettes and feminists were, to overcome all that early restrictive conditioning.

I often wonder what karmic influence caused me to be born into such a milieu. I moved to California at 16, and at first found myself a fish out of water. I had to learn to hug, to hold hands, to say out loud "I love you" or "You're terrific" breaking through all those learned barriers to love and laughter and tears.

By nature, I wear bright colors, am outspoken (given to hyperbole) and deeply embedded in a matrix of friends and extended family. I was thinking about this topic this morning as I put on my jeans, my sandals, my hot pink tee with Aztec symbols and "Justicia con Paz" emblazoned at the bottom.

My purse is a backpack, messenger bag, maroon and deep blue. I love the contrast of bright colors with intense darker colors. I love to discuss events (current or historical) and then intensify the discussion by referring to the larger issues, the principles we live by.

Talking, discussing, philosophizing is meat and drink to me. I would die of thirst in an intellectual desert.

I am so grateful for friends and family and for you, my e-friends. You enrich my live in so many ways!