Falling in Love with a Place

I read this on Modern Mrs. Darcy, and I can’t tell whether I believe it to be true. The title: “Nobody loves a city like someone who wasn’t born there.” She writes,

Only someone who chose a place can see it that way. Only someone who fell in love with it from the outside can maintain that kind of unmarked appreciation. There’s a kind of love you can only give to a city you chose to fall for.

Is that true? I don’t have a complicated love for where I grew up. I don’t feel that it’s a “complicated love. Heavy love. Love that comes with the suffocation of performing someone else’s dreams in a city that never gave you room to breathe.” It’s actually pretty simple and straightforward. I liked growing up here enough to stay around here.

On the other hand, I also feel a lightness every time we go to London. We collectively love it as a family, and I can feel myself unravel and relax in multiple places: Stepping out of the Gloucester Road Underground station, walking alongside St. James Park on The Mall, sitting down on a bench at the Tower of London, sitting down at a table at Da Mario’s. Do Londoners love it as much as I love it? I have no clue — I’m not in their head. But I fell in love with that city and can ignore the city traits that I hold against other cities, such as New York. Exact same thing can occur in both cities, and in London, it’s charming, and in New York, I seethe.

What do you think about falling in love with a place?