I moved to London from New York in 1997. In fact I moved to NY in 1990. So 'where I'm from', Boston, feels a bit alien to me. I often get asked for resturant recommendations for Boston and really have to plead ignorance, since having left Boston at 18, and didn't frequent resturants that wouldn't have given me change for $10.

Really, London has felt more like home to me (and a sub category Forest Hill) than any other City I've lived in. I met my husband here. Bought property here. Had my son in Lewisham Hospital (would not recomend it--but that is another thread).

In a way London has given me, what I expected from NY. Don't get me wrong NY was a lot of fun. But I moved to NY to re-invent myself in that awkward way that most 18 year olds want to re-invent themsleves. But it was London where I stopped putting on personas and found who I really am.

It hit me a few years ago, before children, I was flying into Heathrow, and as we landed I thought "ah, home." And it shocked me a bit. I hadn't even realised that a City I moved to "for a year, because it seemed like fun" would become my home.

We all leave the sandbox and our parents' house and find and create a 'home' somewhere. That may be two miles away or 4,000 miles.

Last year a couple moved next door to my parents, in suburban Massachusetts. When the guy met my father over the picket fence he said he grew up in New Castle and his wife was Spanish. My father said, "oh, my daughter lives in London". It is a small world, and it is understandable that London should be one of the major hubs of that world.