Made Amazing Friends and Found My Home
Things were pretty tough around here for a while. However, I am happy to report that life is now So Much Better. My friends and family have been amazing - they've carried me through some really dark days and held my hand and then set me back on my feet and pushed me forwards. I'm extremely grateful and can never repay them (but will try, mostly with baked goods).
Despite the fact that England is making itself somewhat hard to love today (but really, what's an August Bank Holiday without rain, and the fact that it's 14 C just makes it that much cosier), this really feels like home.
I'm aware that I've moved around a LOT in the last 32 years. I've lived on both sides of the Atlantic, in New York, Maine, Holland, France, and England. If you include the places my parents have lived after I moved out for college, it's 14 "homes". I'm not including all the different dorms at Colby or my summers spent at Lochearn, since while I got mail there, they weren't exactly permanent addresses. Although given my track record, no address is permanent!
I've had a few "I'm HOME" epiphanies in the last few months. The clearest one was while driving home from Cambridge back in late April. I'm aware that people don't normally have life-affirming epiphanies while driving along the A14, but it could have been worse. At least it wasn't the M25. I wasn't sure where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do with myself for the first few months of the year, understandably, and so I tried not to make any major life-changing decisions.
However, in an idle moment of internet-meandering, I had come across a job based 10 minutes from my parents in Rhode Island that really seemed like a perfect fit. I felt like I had to apply for it and that I would regret it if I didn't. Shortly after submitting my application, driving along the A14 (eastbound, just before it joins the A11, if you're interested) I had the most incredible sense of wanting to stay HERE. It was almost like I needed the option of moving back to the US presented to me in a concrete way for me to realise that it's not something I want to do right now. Obviously, I'm not writing it off forever, but it's absolutely not where I want to be right now.
It was also quite illuminating while I was in the US in June/July - so many people asked me, "when are you moving home?" But as I pointed out to them, I AM home. Of course I miss my family and my friends in the US and good Mexican food and really hot summers (I'm looking at you, August in England) and tons of other things, but if I were to leave the UK I'd miss my friends here and sailing with EAST and Kermit the Car and light summer evenings and the BBC.
So there we are.
As my track record shows, Home Is Where The Blankie Is, but for now, it's here.
Despite the fact that England is making itself somewhat hard to love today (but really, what's an August Bank Holiday without rain, and the fact that it's 14 C just makes it that much cosier), this really feels like home.
I'm aware that I've moved around a LOT in the last 32 years. I've lived on both sides of the Atlantic, in New York, Maine, Holland, France, and England. If you include the places my parents have lived after I moved out for college, it's 14 "homes". I'm not including all the different dorms at Colby or my summers spent at Lochearn, since while I got mail there, they weren't exactly permanent addresses. Although given my track record, no address is permanent!
I've had a few "I'm HOME" epiphanies in the last few months. The clearest one was while driving home from Cambridge back in late April. I'm aware that people don't normally have life-affirming epiphanies while driving along the A14, but it could have been worse. At least it wasn't the M25. I wasn't sure where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do with myself for the first few months of the year, understandably, and so I tried not to make any major life-changing decisions.
However, in an idle moment of internet-meandering, I had come across a job based 10 minutes from my parents in Rhode Island that really seemed like a perfect fit. I felt like I had to apply for it and that I would regret it if I didn't. Shortly after submitting my application, driving along the A14 (eastbound, just before it joins the A11, if you're interested) I had the most incredible sense of wanting to stay HERE. It was almost like I needed the option of moving back to the US presented to me in a concrete way for me to realise that it's not something I want to do right now. Obviously, I'm not writing it off forever, but it's absolutely not where I want to be right now.
It was also quite illuminating while I was in the US in June/July - so many people asked me, "when are you moving home?" But as I pointed out to them, I AM home. Of course I miss my family and my friends in the US and good Mexican food and really hot summers (I'm looking at you, August in England) and tons of other things, but if I were to leave the UK I'd miss my friends here and sailing with EAST and Kermit the Car and light summer evenings and the BBC.
So there we are.
As my track record shows, Home Is Where The Blankie Is, but for now, it's here.
Follow your heart and your instincts. That has always worked for you. Miss you everyday, but Skype helps.
ReplyDelete