full circle.
i love the feeling of driving into my hometown.
the familiarity. the comfort.
i loved my childhood. i loved all my school years.
i loved college and that it was close enough to drive home every now and then.
as we drive in, the corn fields everywhere remind me of long drives...
by myself. listening to music. thinking.
they remind me of toilet papering trees & running to the fields to lie flat and hide.
of parking. of riding tractors with my boyfriend working the fields.
figuring out life. love.
we pass one of our favorite spots to eat.
i remember working there while home from college for the summer.
it was one of my favorite jobs.
the fun, the stress, of serving people.
i was a good server.
people can curse their hometowns.
talk about how they will leave as soon as they can.
how boring they are. how far they will go.
but, i love it. my memories are there.
so much of who i am is on those long, winding country roads.
i love the family traditions there.
the local frozen yogurt shop after school functions...
band [me]. orchestra [my sister].
mom & dad randomly hollering for everyone to get into the car on a saturday afternoon.
where are we going?
just for a drive.
we'd drive the country roads. just drive.
the memories of friendship there.
the local pizza place after cheer practice or a football game.
being grounded, but secretly meeting my boyfriend at the library.
[i totally got caught.]
riding bikes around town with laura & arricka.
our new-found freedom thrilling to our 4th grade selves.
we'd ride to the Milky Way. i'd get a strawberry ice with extra strawberry.
i still do.
add in the perfectly sized/crispiness onion rings
and
a quart size vanilla coke.
it's a little piece of hometown heaven.
i love that my family is still there.
that we can unload our 17 [okay, 5] kids out of the vehicle and still feel at home.
even though we're hours away.
i love that they can pile in with cousins and
get a tangerine twist cone or slushie
at the Milky Way.
my life has formed a little circle around itself.
and instead of feeling old or lamenting the times past,
it just feels really fun.
i love hometowns.
Sounds like my hometown....doesn't make me feel old either....just a bit nostalgic. I love that even though it changes....there's still so much the same. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a very tiny Indiana town was something for which I am truly grateful. It is growing now and changing, but there are still little nooks that bring back a flood of memories. I love going back to visit, though I've only been able to do so a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to see someone else cherishes it as much as I do. (I will shush up now as this is turning into a blog post in a comment box.)
P.S. I have never had a strawberry ice with extra strawberry, but that picture makes me crave one.
P.P.S. I found you via Beth.
my hometown...
ReplyDelete4 generations of our family live there now..who knows how many generations have lived there in the past.
i can tell you all the good routes to run- whether you want one mile or seven.
the seven mile run... it's hot. and dangerous. but we ran it, because at the end, there's a creek. and we'd lower our already soaking wet (from sweat) selves into the icy water to cool off.
my grandmother's house is in the center of everything. my friends from high school would stop her house when they needed a coke or needed her bathroom or wanted to say hello. they'd just walk in and say, Hey Granny! over the barking dogs...
The junior high was falling in on itself. There were sink holes... big ones.
The river floods the park when it rains.
My great-grandmother's house was recently remodeled...they threw her big picture window away- there was a bullet hole through the center of it where my great-uncle accidently pulled the trigger on a gun years ago...I wanted that glass.
I love hometowns too. I was ready to leave, so ready to leave. But I don't ever stay away for too long.
Part of me is always there, even though I'm here.
I want to ramble more... Maybe I'll come back and leave you a link... :)
That reminds me so much of home, it actually makes me incredibly homesick!
ReplyDeleteBrings back some great memories
I miss my hometown, and unfortunately I haven't been back since I was a kid. Sometimes I wonder if it was as great as I remember it! But I'm sure it was.
ReplyDeleteBy the way...Hey, fellow band alum! What did you play?? I played french horn for most of junior high and high school, and in college I learned to play euphonium and fell in love with it. Yay brass!
yummmm...Milky Way :) The BEST place on earth! We have the same hometown :)
ReplyDeleteI love my hometown so much my husband and I bought out first home here last August.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even funnier is all of the next door neighbor kids I knew growing up are starting to come back and buy houses here too.
It's wonderful, comfy, and homey, and I love that my family is only 6 blocks away.
Beautiful pictures, I love your blog :-) I think your family is wonderful.
I have traveled the country and I am here in my hometown, about 2 miles from where I grew up. My girls have gone to the same schools I went to and hung out at the same places.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that saddens me is that our town is dying, businesses aren't here like they were. Too many vacant homes and storefronts. It just saddens me and when Is start talking about it I get people telling me I should run for city council because of my passion for our town. I just wish I could bottle this passion and hand it out because I don't know about running for city council.
I love this. I grew up in a small town and though I probably wouldn't want to live there right now, it still holds a lot of big memories.
ReplyDeleteSadly, my small town doesn't have an ice cream place, but it does have the most amazing Mexican restaurant (seriously. I'll take you there some time)! I had my first legal margarita there.
I wish I felt the same about my home town. I am one that curses it. I dream of finding a place for our family to settle that will feel like "HOME" to our kids.
ReplyDeleteVery sweet post.
I feel the same way about my hometown. We would live there now if we could. So nice to read your memories!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog and for your comment. You have such a lovely family.
Awesome post, Love! You are making me soooo crave a quart vanilla coke and a tangerine twist! :) Gotta love the Milky Way!
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet memories...reminds me of Dw's hometown...
ReplyDeleteAnd totally and completely love the picture...
Perfect post for summer!
(i LOVE my hometown, too.)
ReplyDeletelove it and the pics. reminded me of harry chapin's song "all my life's a circle."
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean! My hometown is literally half-way across the country from where I live now, but I have taken my kids there a couple of times now, and I absolutely LOVE taking them to the places that were important to me when I was a girl...so bittersweet! In some ways I wish we lived there but there are so many more reasons we are happier where we are...At any rate, I can't wait to take them back again...Ah, feeling nostalgic for a trip through Craigheads 5 & Dime, and a Frito Pie at the Dairy Queen...
ReplyDeleteHometowns are very special places. I heart mine so much, I moved one town away : )
ReplyDeletemmmm...i like this post. I had similar nostalgia just days ago, in my hometown. Right on down to the boyfriend memories and the laying flat in the grass (by the railroad tracks, in the dark, hiding from the cops...) ;) heh.
ReplyDeleteI love that you love hometowns.