I've been traveling back and forth between the US and UK my whole life. I asked my mum when the first time was, and she said she was breast feeding me, so it's been a while. Because I left England for good when I was 13, the country is powerfully nostalgic for me. The food, the smells, the idiosyncrasies, create this sort of constant nostalgic deja vu.
I think maybe when you grow up with a certain environment and then leave it, that environment becomes the prototype for you in later life. What you are always unconsciously looking for to feel at home. Yesterday we went for a walk a along the Norfolk coast, our go-to summer spot when we were young. All the neurons in my brain were shouting at once: "This is it!!! This is the most beautiful place on earth!" How funny to realize that the familiar is actually what our heart wants.
I just had a similar experience--My brother and I went back to see our childhood home that we haven't lived in for over twenty years. We pulled a Miranda Lambert and knocked on the door and asked to go inside. Luckily, the lady living there said we could come in. It was one of the most surreal, amazing experiences--to be walking around the house from my distant past, but yet it was so familiar to me and full of so many good memories. I highly recommend doing it if you can! -Christina
ReplyDeleteYep. I remember wanting to leave home so bad, just aching for it. Then once coming home on leave after Iraq, driving along the 101 in a rental car, I got to that part of the Conejo Grade where you drive DOWN into the valley that my home is in; I was thinking the same thing. The hills were all green after rain, the sun was setting, and the fields were all different shades of green and brown like a quilt. The valley was just opening up like a big hug.
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