Usually, people encourage you to put down roots, or maybe return to those roots.

But on this edition of Selective Shorts, stories that find delight in being uprooted, including

a piece by the beloved author and Tyler performed by the great Jane Curtain.

I'm Meg Wallitzer, stay where you are, or if you need to wander off, take your headphones.

We're listening to Selective Shorts, where our greatest actors transport us through

the magic of fiction, one short story at a time.

For many of us, home isn't just the place where we hang our hat.

It's where we hope to stay for the long run.

And that's a comforting idea.

We know our houses, our apartments, and all their little quirks.

We know our neighbors, our communities, our cities and countries.

And this isn't just about familiarity, it's also about ease.

There's no need to expend excess energy in the business of daily living.

I remember being a kid and suddenly another kid in school announced they were moving away.

That was huge news.

They might have only been moving to the next suburb, but I often felt bereft.

And more than that, I felt sorry for them, because I got to stay put in the place I knew

best, moving up in the school that was familiar to me, and returning at the end of the school

day to my same familiar house.

But sometimes, we're the one who gets uprooted.

As you can hear, the idea of being uprooted sounded scary to me, getting removed from

the patch of land in which you have grown roots and displaced from the soil that literally

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