I don’t really understand how I can have so much nostalgia about certain places (like the Pizza Hut near the Court House Metro station in Arlington, Virginia), and very little about other places – the White Mountains in New Hampshire where I grew up, and saw my first in-the-wild moose, and went to summer camp. We had such a WONDERFUL time this weekend enjoying New England’s rainy days of summer, but it was the people that made the trip.
It’s always therapeutic to be around family especially when you like your family as much as Matt and I do. It’s always nice to sleep in the bedroom that you grew up in, except mine has been turned into a walk-in closet for my parents. But I get the same joy out of sleeping in my sister’s bedroom. And it’s always nice to eat birthday cake.
When we touched down in Nashville bright and early this morning I was stunned by how familiar it all felt. It was good to be home. How could a place that I’ve only lived in for such a short amount of time feel so much like home? More like home than the place I grew up in? WONKY.
As I was out driving around this evening, I heard LIVE’S “Lighting Crashes” on the radio. I usually skip over that cause, c’mon! I haven’t listened to LIVE since High School! But I paused to listen and was brought back to the days where I used to rewind and rewind again to hear that song while driving to the beach to make out with my Very First Boyfriend. VFB and I were filled with more teen angst than a WB prime-time show. And more raging hormones than all those boy dogs mounting Berlin when I went to pick her up at Camp Bow Wow today (I could have slaughtered them!). We were so sure we were in love, and very much enjoyed imagining growing old together ala “When I’m 64.”
We were not in love, and we had little in common other than our fantastic admiration for the talent of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Fab Four. And looking back I realized that I feel towards New Hampshire the way I feel towards LIVE and my VFB. Dull and not at all interested. Not even nostalgic.
I love my family and love being with them. However, my home is wherever Matt is. And tomorrow we might make an offer on a home. A home in our new home… Nashvegas.
