"I never thought much about South Haven until I moved to Chicago... South Haven was just Town, as in 'let's go to Town and get an ice cream.' Town was groceries and hardware and Mackenzie's Bakery and the sheet music and records at the Music Emporium...We used to stand in front of Appleyard's Photography Studio making up stories about the brides and toddlers and families smiling their hideous smiles in the window. We didn't think the library was funny-looking in its faux Greek splendor, nor did we find the cuisine limited and bland, or the movies at the Michigan Theater relentlessly American and mindless. These were opinions I came to later, after I became a denizen of a City, an expatriate anxious to distance herself from the bumpkin ways of her youth. I am suddenly consumed by nostalgia for the little girl who was me, who loved the fields...who spent winter days home sick from school reading Nancy Drew and sucking menthol cough drops..."
Audrey Niffenegger/The Time Traveler's Wife
Yes, I'm just now getting around to reading this book (public libraries are a god send, unless the book you want just got made into a movie and you're number 400 in the hold queue- true story).
I also got locked out of my apartment tonight, and this just so happened to be the passage I read while waiting for someone to come home. It really struck a chord with me, and I paused to think about my current situation... if you have had any sort of conversation with me over the past two weeks, you know that I've been considering moving home.
But tonight I realized that moving home is not what I want. I love the small town I grew up in, with its red brick roads and its one stop-light main street. I love that any given day of the week you can get stuck behind a hay-wagon on your way in to the grocery store. And probably once you get there, you run into about five others that you know.
Rock meet hard place. Because I love that just two blocks away from my apartment rest a brazilian, mediterranean, italian, mexican, tapa, and italian restaurant. I love that the city skyscrapers climb the sky and litter them with urban stars. I love that any given day of the week you can cross paths with celebrities and its no big deal.
Sometimes the nostalgia gets overwhelming and I grow homesick. Sometimes the City is overwhelming with its gridlock traffic and superficiality and I get frustrated. And then I find the balance that the small town is the reason I am the person I am today, and the City is teaching me how to become the person I was meant to be.
Audrey Niffenegger/The Time Traveler's Wife
Yes, I'm just now getting around to reading this book (public libraries are a god send, unless the book you want just got made into a movie and you're number 400 in the hold queue- true story).
I also got locked out of my apartment tonight, and this just so happened to be the passage I read while waiting for someone to come home. It really struck a chord with me, and I paused to think about my current situation... if you have had any sort of conversation with me over the past two weeks, you know that I've been considering moving home.
But tonight I realized that moving home is not what I want. I love the small town I grew up in, with its red brick roads and its one stop-light main street. I love that any given day of the week you can get stuck behind a hay-wagon on your way in to the grocery store. And probably once you get there, you run into about five others that you know.
Rock meet hard place. Because I love that just two blocks away from my apartment rest a brazilian, mediterranean, italian, mexican, tapa, and italian restaurant. I love that the city skyscrapers climb the sky and litter them with urban stars. I love that any given day of the week you can cross paths with celebrities and its no big deal.
Sometimes the nostalgia gets overwhelming and I grow homesick. Sometimes the City is overwhelming with its gridlock traffic and superficiality and I get frustrated. And then I find the balance that the small town is the reason I am the person I am today, and the City is teaching me how to become the person I was meant to be.
Great blog post. I look forward to seeing wether you stay here or not. If you do stay here we should definitely get together.
ReplyDeleteI've been a city girl for the majority of my adult life and only recently moved back to a more rural area. I grew up in a semi-rural area and didn't think it was horrible, but when I moved in to the city I thought that live was PERFECT. Now that I'm in my late 20's, though, I'm pretty happy to be out of the city again. It's a little quieter, but I'm only 20 minutes away from the bustling downtown city life. It took me awhile to get here, and I know it's not for everyone, but it's a really nice balance.
ReplyDelete...But I will always miss my days as a single gal in the city ;-)
Kimberley, from what I can tell, I am staying put in LA. We should definitely get together sometime.
ReplyDeleteStevie, I think eventually I will want to go back home to my quiet, midwest life. For now, I'm still coming into my own, and what better landscape than the big city! :)