Strucknwords

Nostalgia (n) Describes a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations……

Hometown or home town is the city or town where one grew up, or the place of one’s principal residence. It is not to be confused with birthplace, although the two can be the same place.

Do you drift off in thought often? This may be a habit of yours….causing you to get negative outcomes such as traffic tickets, unnecessary long lines, medical injuries, etc. You might wonder with a brilliant sense of peace though, despite the havoc on your finances or time spent. Just last night, I got pulled over because yes, I was being a negligent driver, but I was also listening to The Budos Band, which led me to think about a jazz band performance of mine in high school, which resulted in me speeding…….

I don’t necessarily miss where I was raised, but I do thank my parents and Mother Earth for it regularly, mostly due to the fact that many children these days don’t have anything close to what I had. I have to recognize that my parents did what was right for themselves and the family at that time. I lived in one home for all of my childhood, and then some. My first best friends come from there. I learned all of my first hard life long lessons there. When I think about my mistakes, the important ones come from there. Well, maybe except for a couple of brutal ones. My love for nature comes from there. I love sweating because of that place. The energy I have for healthy competition exists because of Conyers.

Sometimes, memories burst into me, not as if I’m soaking in my bath, asking for it, but as if they require to enter my presence, a cleansing, without my permission.

Living there now though, for me, would be torture, but at the time, I get what my parents were thinking-stable environment. community. good schools. positive culture. But, we traveled. We camped. I think my dad’s pilot’s license was a true ticket to ride for the family; there was no way he nor we were going to survive if we had to just exist in Conyers, Ga. It turns out that the we didn’t survive, but I’m not convinced it was due to the geography.

Nostalgia though….it creeps in less now for Conyers, but for those chapters that followed: Athens, GA.; Sitia, Greece; Fairbanks, AK. My nostalgia comes from those places and periods where I changed. Where a new layer was exposed-one that I’ve hunted for, sought after, and arrived to. Some of it, of course, also comes from forces outside my control. Do you ever notice how when you are ready for more change, that you are cleansed by the memories of those moments where you succeeded in mastering change? Even the kind you didn’t want? It is like training for a sport-you reflect about your previous races, times, challenges, and consider what you could do to improve.

Change is so scary and awesome all at the same time. It makes you better. Us better. We better. The Earth better. When people are stagnant so is the community.

This past weekend, I got to visit Fairbanks-again. I tend to think of the place often, but it had been awhile since I was up for late “winter” and I say that because in most places, March is considered spring. No sun, but we got some great soaking, skiing, and localvorism in. It was brilliant, but more important than that, I was reminded that my love for that place is not necessarily about the place, but who I became while there. It’s interesting because on a timeline, I didn’t really live there that long, but its impact on me has been humbling.

Here is the hunger we all have for change, and embracing all kinds of it, via places, relationships, goals…..it is what makes us thrive for more.