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Dear Tucson…


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Love-Letters-to-Tucson-logo Each issue we link up with Rachel Miller’s Love Letters to Tucson blog for a letter from a Tucson inhabitant about why they love this fair city. This month: blogger and author Adiba Nelson says Tucson is as sassy as she is (well, almost)Photos by Rachel Miller

adiba5 Dear Tucson,

So, I wanted to start off my love letter to you full of sass n’ ass because well, that’s me – sassy little smarty pants who lives for a great pun and quick wit. How-e-ver, this love letter sucked the sass right out of me, much like the Tucson heat sucks the air out of your lungs when the wind blows in July. Isn’t that fitting? Isn’t that ironic? Isn’t that Tucson? Forcing you to be the most real version of yourself, even when you thought you had already reached your own personal best. Yeah, that is SO Tucson. At least that’s who Tucson has been to me.

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Here and below: Adiba hits 4th Avenue, one of her favorite Tucson spots.

Tucson has been the angel of grace that saved my mother’s life when we moved here from New York City in the fall of 1988. Had we stayed in my personal Mecca (which, coincidentally, was her personal death trap), she wouldn’t have made it to the Spring of 1989. Tucson has been the all-too-warm-hug I didn’t know I needed in July 1995 when I returned from NYC after my dad died, only to find that while I was gone, my best friend had died. Tucson allowed me to roam 4th Ave aimlessly, pondering anything and everything, sometimes barefoot, sometimes with combat boots, sometimes with china flats – without a care, without fear, without judgment.

Tucson let me be. She has seen me at my most sobering moments, and at my drunkest. I have had my highest of highs in this solar plexus we call the Old Pueblo, and my absolute lowest of lows, and through all of it I now find myself stepping into the person I’m supposed to be. But remember – she forces your hand in realness, so this hot headed sassafrass named Tucson probably ain’t done with me. But, I am in love with this cactus filled, craft beer slingin’, trendynottrendy, we’re-weird-and-we-know-it-and-you-love it town.

adiba4 It has taken me a while to admit my love affair with this chick named Tucson. She’s like a freakin’ vacuum. You try like hell to get out but somehow her quirky adorable weirdness pulls you right back in – she’s like the Zooey Deschanel or Mindy Kaling of the southwest. You know – she’s a bit odd, and maybe all her parts are a little askew, but they all fit together so wonderfully how could you not want to just cozy up to her every damn day?

adiba3 adibapink But on the real, here’s why I truly love Tucson, and why no matter where I move to from here (Portland, I hear you calling me), I will always carry Tucson in my heart. My daughter, who has special needs, has been so insanely embraced by this spread-out town with a giant heart that I sometimes wonder if she belongs to Tucson, or to me. Wherever we go people talk to her, they high-five her, they fist bump her, they offer her candy/cookies/puppies/dowries. Tucson doesn’t see her wheelchair, or hear her sometimes unintelligible words – they simply see the kid who loves to fist bump and blow it up. The people that make up the arms, legs, and heart of my lover Tucson are what keep me here. The way Tucson rallies for what’s right, moves mountains to help those in need, cries collectively when children go missing from their homes, and on the flip side, rages collectively when rights are denied – that keeps me here.

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Adiba is currently working on a sequel to her children’s book Meet ClaraBelle Blue.

When I launched my children’s book I was worried people wouldn’t be interested because it’s about a little black girl in a wheelchair. And let’s face it, there’s only, like, five black people in Tucson. But there was Tucson, patting me on the back, squeezing me tighter than ever, and whispering in my ear “Ya done good, girl. Ya done good.”

When I bared my tatas and donned lacey black panties and sparkly heels for the EXPOSE 2014 project I was damn near mortified when a board member I work with brought it up in conversation. But instead of condemning and shaming me, I got the proverbial high five. And now that I’m starting to do burlesque, I’m kind of waiting with baited breath to see if this old broad Tucson is going to slap my ass and holler “Get it Girl!” before I walk out on stage for my first performance. I kind of expect her to. I kind of feel like Tucson has known all these sides of my life before I even knew these sides of my life, and she’s just been waiting for me to catch up. I feel like now Tucson has become that proud mama who’s watching me find all the breadcrumbs she’s laid out for me one by one on the gritty, graffiti-laced, nagchampa- and-weed-scented, burlesque loving, all accepting, street fair haven yellow brick road, also known as 4th Ave.

Yeah. I love ya Tucson. I love ya.

Love,

Adiba

Oh Adiba, Tucson loves you too. Adiba and Rachel hit Fourth Avenue with sass n’ ass, heels and flats and a whole lot of laughter. You can find Adiba on her blog The Full Nelson,  Twitter & Instagram @AdibaNelson. Plus, check out her book, Meet ClaraBelle Blue.

 

 

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