Where I'm From | Lucie Frost

Lucie Frost

November 25, 2025 / 30:29/E15

Where I’m From #15

By Lucie Frost

Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I am from TV dinners, on my dad’s side.

From Swanson’s Chicken Pot Pie and Morton’s Turkey Dinner.

On my mother’s, from “health food.”

Homemade yogurt, always plain, and pressure-cooked artichokes.

I am from San Antonio summers.

A one-story ranch wrapped around the swimming pool, decorator-styled, full of liquor,

electronics, and stepmothers, noisy with anger.

Mostly, I am from Guadalajara.

A tile-floored, wooden-beamed, two-story, warmed by books, classical music, and calm.

I am from backyard mango trees, bright bougainvilleas, and field paths to the tienditas.

Fields with high brush, lean-tos, and secret short cuts.

I am from helping in the darkroom and looking up words in a dictionary thicker than me.

I’m from Toomey. I’m from Frost.

I’m from blurting out what everyone is thinking and from becoming expert in every passion.

From “Don’t you ever be dependent on a man!” and “Good God, don’t dog-ear the pages.”

I’m from the Episcopal church on Christmas and Easter and lazy Sundays the rest of the year.

From you can believe or you cannot—you have a thinking mind, figure it out for yourself.

I’m from Texas, from a family of bankers on one side, teachers and linguists on the other.

I’m from steak grilled rare and from tacos al pastor.

From G-Dad, who ran away to Mexico in his old age, forcing Mama to go track him down.

And Uncle Dan, who tried the very same at age 94.

I’m from fierce independence.

I’m from relatives remembered in Día de los Muertos altars, from family portraits hung on walls.

I’m from dark wood furniture passed through the generations.

From Big Joe’s four-poster bed, Lindy’s prayer bench, and Bessie’s china cabinet.

Mostly, I’m from my brilliant, funny-as-hell, foul-mouthed mother.

And that’s a damned good place to be from.

Where to find Lucie:

Substack: https://substack.com/@luciehfrost

Where to find Alyson:

Alyson Shelton

Alyson is an award winning screenwriter and essayist.