Life is an experience, isn’t it? In a week, I’ve started to normalize. I have internet (thank God). I have a refrigerator and a washer and dryer. We still need the microwave but haven’t really missed it that much. And I’ve gotten enough unpacking done that it’s starting to feel good to go out and explore my town a little bit. It’s also conjuring up some long lost memories.
Today’s (Optional) Writing Prompt: What is going home like for you? Do you still live in your same hometown? What kind of memories do you have associated with the place you grew up?
Here we go…
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I’m having this weird deja vu kind of thing going on. It’s not really deja vu. It’s more like memories and details of my previous life has come flooding back to me.
I was born and raised in Maryland and happily left for college a few, um, decades ago for the greener and more collegiate pastures of Cleveland, Ohio. I never looked back. I visited once in a while, but only because my family was there. I never had a desire to live there again. It would be going backwards for me.
And yet, here I am. And a lot has changed in those decades. There are the obvious changes with me, of course. But roads and shopping centers and everything is different. Plus I live in a different part of the state.
But I’m having flashbacks. When I was growing up in my teeny tiny town, we had 3 grocery shopping options: A&P, Safeway, and IGA. IGA was just gross. And A&P was pretty old fashioned. Safeway was the big modern grocery store and I loved it when we shopped there.
So last night, since we FINALLY got our refrigerator delivered, we went shopping at our local grocery store, which just so happens to be a Safeway. I immediately had visions of all the cashiers that used to work there. Mostly middle-aged women because the pay was good. Grocery workers were unionized back then. I remember Bobby Gibbons’ mother was one of the cashiers. We knew them all.
And as I started shopping, I saw Lucerne cottage cheese on the shelf. Lucerne… that name sounded so familiar. The logo had changed but I was sure it was Safeway’s own brand. I just had to buy it. Now, I keep thinking I see people from my high school, imagining what they must look like now. Middle-aged like me.
These are strange emotions I’m experiencing. A slight sense of familiarity and a feeling that I’m home. Only for the first time in decades, I really don’t mind.
14 comments
I’ve never moved and I have that same feeling about seeing people around here from high school. 🙂 So glad that you are settling in and everything is starting to come together.
It happens to me after every blog conference. I come home and think I see bloggers everywhere!
I’ve move to a few different places and even overseas. It does feel foreign and also familiar at the same time when I’m back in singapore. The linky doesn’t show up for me but here’s my link for this week http://dominiquegoh.com/2012/05/soc-embracing-changes-and-moving-on/
Thanks for reminding me to do the linky. Sometimes my brain stops working. Foreign and familiar – that’s a good way to put it.
the safeway cheese reminded me of finding Superdrug products on the shelf of a Turkish shop – I bought the lot. Associations often mean more than the actual home, I find..Glad you’re settling in – good luck with the last of the unpacking.
That’s really the truth. It’s the associations. It’s traveling down memory lane. I’m sure a few years from now when I find some North Carolina treasure in my part of the world it will seem just as exciting.
I am still in the same town as I grew up. I think it is different, though since I didn’t go to any of the areas I am now when I was living here as a youth. A lot of things are still new for me.
I think it all depends on the perspective you have. It can be a lot of fun to be a tourist in your own town.
Wow an A&P. I am not sure where I was living at the time to remember “The A&P” but I do. For some reason I giggled at you buying the cottage cheese. Do you really use it for something?
Where I grew up, A&P went on to become a Superfresh. But yes, I really did buy the cottage cheese and I really did eat it for breakfast. It was delicious!
I always dreamed of going to a new place. But it’s been hard just making friends when we moved a few streets away in my new neighborhood.Ugh.
I myself am in my 30s midlife Crisis. When my husband said that I wasn’t making any sense I reminded him that woman do things faster and thus don’t wait until our 40s. Thank goodness I am far enough from home not to notice brands I love changing their logos…
I hear you about moves but I love that fact that you are closer to “home.” Only in those situations will you end up having a random memory because of something you saw and end up unconsciously sharing it with your kids. I love it when that happens because they give you this specific look like they saw a part of you they never have before… and they did 🙂
I went to high school outside of my hometown, and my friends were from all around Rhode Island. But I went to elementary school locally, and will see those people. Honestly, I do all I can to avoid them. They weren’t very nice to me when we were in school. Many of them don’t recognize me, but I remember all of them. 😮
It’s interesting. I was born in the Midwest and moved here, to Maryland, in the early 90s. I’ve come to love this place and it’s pace so much that when I go home, I always felt a bit out of place. But that old place? It’s still my home. I love it for what it represents and reminds me of.