Okay, so we came, we saw, we left... It was a quick trip to Indy, leaving on Friday and coming home late Sunday night. And, as they say you can't go back home.
We had a great time with my aunt, uncle and cousins. It was so great to see them and they were so gracious to put us up and then also to feed us. But the trip was surreal in a sense.
There was this notion that this place had once been woven into my fiber, but now seemed oddly disjointed from ever having been real. As we drove around showing my family some of the old sites, it wasn't as I had remembered it. Everything had changed. My old high school had been completely rebuilt and didn't resemble the place that once brought so much anxiety as it had the day I walked the halls not knowing a soul. The township where we lived had changed tremendously. New stores were everywhere and the familiar ones all but gone the way of the dinosaur. The two houses where my family had lived now seemed so old and so small. Everything was completely not how I remembered it.
We ate in a restaurant I used to go to all the time and I had a flash back where I thought, "Little did I know that ten years later I would be bringing my family of six here to this place." That was a neat moment. It was almost as though I got to hit fast forward on life's remote and see how things turned out.
The thing I truly discovered on this little adventure was a statement my wife made to me as I lamented the woes of change. She said, "Home is where you make it." (and, no she didn't say it with a Cajun accent as in the "Waterboy") But, she is right. One of my cousins made the comment that - after having lived in Alabama most of her life - she didn't think she could ever live in Alabama again. She seems to likely be a permanent transplant. And on Sunday, as we drove home, I came away with the notion that is sure is good to headed back home to the South.
It wasn't that we had a bad time or didn't enjoy ourselves; it's just that life goes on if you will let it and most of your living can be missed if you're living in the past and hanging on to regret.
Nope you can’t go home again. So was this the first trip back since you left? You must not see Tara and Natalie too often then. As I’ve already mentioned, I’ve had these experiences too. Although I have never went so long without visiting my old stomping grounds…I make it back to Indiana a couple times a year. For me things seemed to instantly change as soon as I left…from the moment I quit living there full time things seemed to change and it felt less and less like home. Really going to college was a time where I didn’t really feel like I had a place I could call home…but getting married and finally having a place of my own changed that. Your wife is wise…it is true. I will always be a Hoosier at heart, but after living in the foothills of the App. mountains in Southeastern Ohio, I want to move to a state further south where the winters are warmer and the scenery is prettier…not like Detroit, Michigan…where the winters are butt cold :) and the local industry doesn’t do too much for the scenery…unless you’re in to that abandoned factory look :)
ReplyDeleteOh, come on! You're not into post-modern art with industrial medium? Okay, I don't know what I'm talking about here... :) The south gets a bad wrap - some of it deserving - much of it not, though. I'm convinced that the nicest people live in the south... good ol' southern hospitality really does exist. I could tell a bit of a difference in that area alone. If you wish to move south, however you might have to change your views a bit or we won't accept you in... :) just kidding... you'll have to change them alot! Or you can move to Florida, the California of the south. Ha! Love you buddy and you're welcome here in the south so as long as we remain a free country.
ReplyDeletewell...I don't plan to head to florida or the deep south, like bama. Virginia could be a possibility...maybe N. Carolina...really we will most likely be at the mercy of where the best job is :) As for changing my views because of geography...not likely :) but I make friends easily...ha
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