One of These Things is Not Like the Others
AKA: More Cohorts
Although my sons probably consider themselves Virginians who love the Red Sox because of their parent’s Massachusetts roots, they were actually born in Texas.
When my first marriage brought me to Houston, Texas, I was initially homesick for my family and my peninsula hometown of Hull. After living in Texas for seven years, and when my sons were ages 3 and 5, we moved to the Mountains of Virginia. I felt more at home there, maybe because, according to author Sharyn McCrumb, the Appalachian mountain range and Ireland, where my ancestors came from, were once the same land mass (pre-ice-age). But also, Virginia was more conducive to our homesteading and home schooling interests.
After losing my brothers, Jim and Dan, 4 years ago, I went through an identity crisis. I wrote in my book, “The Jim and Dan Stories”… Danny and I had a shared dream of buying a beach front condo in Hull, so we could both spend extended time there. I’m still in Virginia, but Danny is home now. If you stand at his grave, lean forward and look to the left, all the way down Duck Lane, you can see the ocean.
Since their deaths, I find myself homesick for the ocean and Hull again. Whenever I’m there, I want to stay. But it’s crowded and expensive to live there. When I return home to Virginia, I realize, once again, that I love country living and thrive on the green space of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I have three remaining brothers and three sisters who I love dearly. When I received the above photo of my Massachusetts sisters at a wine tasting home party, I felt left out. So I cut and pasted, injecting myself onto the photo – fresh (or not) from Christmas vacation and the elements of St. Augustine beach in Florida.
I guess this means that I’m still working through my identity crisis. I suspect that being torn between two places will be an ongoing theme in my life.
What about you? Are at home with where you live?
Post Note: This post was inspired by a photo seen on “Just Coll” (another Colleen’s blog) of her and her sisters.
September 1st, 2005 10:28 am
Not at home, no. My issue is, I long to return to the mountains to live, but my children and grandchildren are here…
September 1st, 2005 12:44 pm
I love the picture! I could not even telly ou were added. I thought you just came in from outside:)You have a beautiful family, btw.
No I am not home here. I am in the midst of my identity crisis in the woods that began last year about this time when my youngest started school full time. I dont know where I want to go BUT I am so ready to go there…you see my problem 😉
September 1st, 2005 2:09 pm
I love the photo Colleen.
Yes.. I feel at home in Winnipeg. Except during the winters.. then I wonder.. what am I doing here. But yes.. it is my home.
Thanks for reference to my blog 🙂
September 1st, 2005 2:36 pm
Colleen, I could have (almost) written the exact same thing. After going up to CT, I realized how much I missed “home”, but I am so comfortable here in VA. I talked with my Dad about it just recently and he said that Neil Diamond hit it on the head when he wrote, “I Am I Said”. …..”LA’s fine, but it ain’t home, New York’s home, but it ain’t mine no more….”
There is something about the New England charm that gives you that connection we had talked about…there is a connection to our ancestors there!
Seeing you a few weeks ago brought me “home” for a while!
xoxo
September 1st, 2005 3:02 pm
Colleen that was beautiful. I really enjoy your writing. I’m here playing the Michele tag game. Have a nice weekend, K
September 1st, 2005 3:06 pm
Actually, no I’m not at home. I used to be – Until January 21, 2005 when I packed up my kids, dogs and hubby and we made the trek 749 miles south to Arizona to be closer to his mom and grandparents. While it is beautiful here, so far I miss cool weather, a mountain range outside my window in any direction, fall colors (which will be starting in UT any day now) and sometimes, I miss my family. Mostly though, I miss my surroundings and knowing where I was all the time, and how to find places.
September 1st, 2005 3:34 pm
The paste was pretty good. Different clothes but doesn’t look terribly manipulated.
Home is feeling and people based more than place but where I am living feels like the best place I’ve been so far.
September 1st, 2005 3:57 pm
That’s 3 NO, 2 YES, and 2 MAYBE’S so far.
September 1st, 2005 5:15 pm
I go through he same things you do. I no longer miss the dry Colorado–well, not often at least. But I do sometimes feel I am missing what is happening with my family there as I am now the only one far away. And I have this love affair with both mountains and ocean when I am seeking some peace in my life. I keep trying to be like Buddha and live within the moment and appreciate my life as it is.
September 1st, 2005 7:58 pm
Hey Colleen – love the photo! I am discovering that Allentown is starting to feel more like home… it certainly feels more like home than any of the other places I’ve lived since I left Washington state five years ago. Regardless, I think the Evergreen State will always be home for me, though… as much as Seattle has changed, it’s still my home. I miss the west.
September 1st, 2005 10:35 pm
that picture is great!! i would never have known that you copy and pasted yourself in there..hehe
and as for the question…i dont really feel at home where i am…i am from the mountains of east tennessee…and i have settled in middle tennessee…i miss home…
September 2nd, 2005 9:45 am
That is interesting about the mountains and Ireland–
I’m at home here. I never want to move away from Oregon. I’d like to visit a million other places, but I can’t imagine that there is anywhere else I would love quite as much–I’ve lived here, for the most part, since I was four.
September 3rd, 2005 12:23 am
I consider myself very lucky to feel that where I am is home, mainly because I’m doing what I want to do. I’m still in a “discovery mode” here as far as environs are concerned, and they continue to wow me.
Even before I moved to Mass., as soon as I stepped off the bus in Boston in ’83 I thought: “I’m home.” There was still much that I missed about New York: people I’d left behind, a subway that ran 24/7, the tug of my home town. But I adopted Boston quickly.
Back then the cost of living was much lower than in NY and the quality of life was much higher, and since then the cities have moved closer and closer together. For years I could no longer “live” in Boston, except physically, for the most part. Though Dorchester Bay proved a major exception, a gem in the rough.
When I moved down here I again left people behind whom I miss (but I saw them rarely up north because I was working all the time!). For about 6 weeks I obsessively watched shows like Ally McBeal (which I never watched up in Boston) and Boston Public, just to “visit”. But then I settled in. After about a year I truly started feeling like a Floridian — which is where things currently stand.
As for tomorrow — who knows?