I was born in Detroit Michigan. Even though we moved away when I was young, it has always felt like my home.
It has always felt strange to be from a city that I rarely get to visit. I've lived in my current town for so long, but it just doesn't have the same feeling. It doesn't feel like my "real home".
Maybe it's because every single one of my ancestors is from this city. I'm even a direct descendant of some of the families that founded Detroit. I've just always felt like I belonged in Detroit.
I was overjoyed to finally return this Thanksgiving, to visit family members, and to explore the place I came from.
The few times I have been back never included a venture downtown, but I had always wanted to go. I love cities, but I didn't even know what the city I was born in really looked like and it drove me crazy.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but as we made our way to the center of the city I was born in, I loved it instantly.
It wasn't the run down, decrepit, broken, abandoned city that I had always heard it was.
The ornate skyscrapers towered over busy streets. The sun was setting and people were just getting off of work and rushing home. The city seemed full of life and overflowing with energy.
There were all kind of restaurants, and shops that filled the bottom floors of the buildings, there was a tram car that ran down a busy street, an above ground subway train, there was even city stream rising up out of the streets!
At some moments, I felt like I was back in New York City!
Downtown Detroit exceeded anything I had expected. It is a city with so much character, so much history with everything it has been through over the years and so much to see.
There are definitely still poverty stricken parts of this city, but that doesn't mean it is a place to be avoided. It's a place that needs attention, and that will hopefully one day have the same opportunities as it once did.
I'm afraid I'm going to be thinking about this city, ever more than I was before..
