As I introduce myself, I figure it's best to deal with the
tough questions first.

With my history, one of the toughest questions to answer
is: "Where are you from?" There is no short answer.

So, here we go.

I was born in Memphis, TN. But, we moved away when I was
3 months old.

We moved to New Orleans, LA and lived there until I was
about two and a half. I don't remember New Orleans at all.

We, then, moved to Atlanta, GA. I think we lived there about
a year. Atlanta is the first place I remember living, vaguely.

We went from there to Jacksonville, FL, for about 9 months.
Then, on to Columbia, SC. We lived there for almost 3 years.

Shortly before my little brother was born we moved to Fort
Worth, TX. It was in Fort Worth that I started kindegarten.

(From here on out, I will track where I lived according
to what grade in school I was in.)

Part of the way into 1st grade, we moved to Tulsa, OK.

About half way through 2nd grade, we moved to Garland, TX
(right outside of Dallas). We stayed there for a while.


Shortly after I started 4th grade, we moved back to Tulsa,
OK. Different school, different neighborhood, but same church.

About 1/4th of the way through 5th grade, we moved to De
Soto, MO... not too far outside of St. Louis. I went to
a tiny little school that didn't have a high school in the
district. The school system came to an end at 8th grade.
At that point, you transferred to one of two area high schools.
The movers came to pack our stuff the last day of my 7th
grade year.

Then, we moved to Broken Arrow, OK. (Right outside of Tulsa)
I went to the rival school district of all my friends from
the two times I lived in Tulsa, but went to the same church,
again.

About 1/4th of the way through my freshman year in high
school, we moved to Eldon, MO. (middle of no where, ...
actually, not far from Jefferson City, the state capital)
This was 1980. My parents had never lived anywhere, as a
married couple, more than three years. They have not moved
from that town since. People ask if my Dad was in the military,
because we moved so much. No. He was a Wal-Mart store manager.
In my experience, if he had been in the military, we wouldn't
have moved as much.

I graduated from high school in 1984, and went to college
in Abilene, TX. I lived in Abilene for 5 years, got married
while I lived there. My time in Abilene is tied for the
most time I have lived in one place in my entire life.

After I joined the Army, I spent 5 years at my first duty
station, Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Tx.

So, where is home?

Well, Mom and Dad live in Eldon, Mo. So, that is home, kind of.

Abilene is where I lived the longest before I joined the
Army. I still have in-laws there, and it is my home of record
with the military. So, that is home, kind of.

El Paso is the first place that I have lived that I, seriously,
considered living for the rest of my life, and my wife and
I are still thinking about living there once I retire from
the military. So, that is kind of home.

But, really, there is no single place that I can point to
that is home, other than wherever my wife and I happen to
live at the moment, and that changes, often.

Currently, my unit is stationed in Germany, and my wife
and I have an apartment there. So, that is home.

But, I am deployed to Iraq. And when I finish work for the
day, and I say that I am going "home", I am referring to
a little space (about 8' x 7') in one of Saddam's smaller
palaces in his old complex in Tikrit.

Finally, to answer the question: I don't know. You tell
me, by your definition, where I am from.