I grew up, for the most part, in the mountains. I grew up where my books take place. Imaginary Girls is set in the town where I went to high school.

I grew up where this was more commonplace…

…than this:

But the second photo is a shot from the curb right outside my building in New York City, the building where I’ve lived for about nine years now. The first photo is where I am right now… just for a short while.

This morning, I headed on foot down this road:

And I looked out across the snow-filled meadow:

And I breathed in the cool, fresh air, which smells so entirely different from the air I’m used to breathing in the city, and I was struck by the beauty of the snow, and the satisfying crunch it made under my boots, and I was filled with memories of being a kid, when this was really all I knew.

I’ve lived in Manhattan—first for grad school, then while working in the publishing industry, now as a writer—for well over a decade. It’s my home now. But sometimes, when I’m away from city noise and surrounded by nature, my body reminds me that wasn’t always so.