Writer's workshop: The prompt- Write a journal entry about all the places you've called home in your life.
"Home is where the heart is." This is so true! As a kid, my mom decided to drag me away from everyone and everything I loved to follow her heart, follow her dreams, to finally do what she wanted, and get out of that small town New England life, (his name was Tom.) ♪Ah hey ma ma hey into the night ah hey mama maheyah life in a northern town♪ (Little Big Town)
We picked up and left New Hampshire for Florida.
The beautiful Sunshine State, with Palm trees and sandy beaches, no snow shoveling, shorts year round, aaah, the life....
Keep dreaming! Oh, sure there's beaches, but not across the whole state! There is a lot of land in the middle of the state, you know, land that has never seen a sandy beach, or the beautiful people of Miami Vice. Can you hear the Miami Vice song in your head? see the Flamingos? me too, but, not where I live.
And Palm trees? Sure there everywhere, but so are the Palmetto bugs! What?! You've never heard of a Palmetto bug?! It's a nice word designed to make you feel better about having the Arnold Schwarzeneger of roaches, crawling inside your house. Stated calmly "oh, it's just a palmetto bug. Everyone has them, they like water."
Me, screaming insanely, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, JUST, A PALMETTO BUG?! THAT THING IS BIG ENOUGH TO EAT ME! AND IT FLIES! WHERE THE HELL AM I?! THE LAND OF THE LOST?!" ♪Land of the lost♪
So, I'm in Florida. Mom's in love with Tom, we live together in a small house with a "Florida room" (that's fancy for a glassed in porch,) and I can't wait to get "home," but life is okay. I play outside a lot, I feed the ducks at the pond, and I make some friends in the neighborhood. Soon, summer comes, and I get to go home to NH for a few months.
When I come back, something's different. Mom is now in love with Jack, and Tom is now Uncle Eddie? Yup, Mom left Tom for his brother, and for some reason we now refer to him as Eddie, like the rest of the family. Confusing, huh? Even more confusing is the many number of places we would live over the next 10 years. We went from the cute little home with Tom, to a motel with Jack, then a 1br duplex, to an apartment, to a house, to a trailer, and then the trailer was moved around for awhile. And all the while, I couldn't wait to go "home."
And, every summer I did. I went home to green grass that I could roll in, lakes that I could swim in, mountains I could hike, and aaah, the beach! How I loved going to the beach! The cold water, the rocky shore, the boardwalk. It was all perfect. And, it was all home to me, because that's where my heart was.
Finally, when I got married, I found a new home. I'll always claim New Hampshire as my home state, but, my heart is now somewhere else. It is with my hubby and 2 girls. Together, we've lived all over Florida, and in Maine, and back to Florida, again. Yes! with those damn palmetto bugs! (which by the way, I'm deathly afraid of! So much so, I can't even kill one myself! Nope, I'm paralyzed at the site of one. Irrational, I know, bit they're frickin huge! I don't want to piss one off, and have the giant roach family come after me! *shudders*)
So, why do I live here? In this place that I hate? Where there is too much traffic? Where excitement is plotting a hurricane on a map, and secretly hoping it comes close enough to get a day off, but not close enough to do any damage? Where it's way too hot, to actually go outside, for the majority of the year, and it's infested with bugs, snakes, and gators?
♪I don't like spiders and snakes, and that aint what it takes to love me♪ (Jim stafford)
Because, it works for us. And it's home. We may live somewhere else someday, and wherever that is, it, too, will be home, because we'll be together, and home is where the heart is.
♪I'm on my way, I'm on my waaay. Home sweet home♪ (Motley Crue)
Palmetto bugs scare the CR@P out of me, too!!
ReplyDeleteI call NH my home too, even though I have lived in a lot of places. Its Massachusetts now..
ReplyDeleteWould love to check out Florida someday
You can have a nice home whever you want to make it.
ReplyDeleteSecretia
Palmetto bugs sound like something out of one of my worst dreams. But still, I dream of living in Florida. I hate, hate, hate winter...
ReplyDeleteAre there any palmetto bug free corners of the state?
Great writing! Thanks for sharing. I am so in love with Florida *husband is FL native* and I didn't want to leave every time I come there and visit my inlaws it's just there's something about that sunshine state that stole my heart. Maybe just maybe somewhere down the line we'll end up with a nice home there. :D
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how the place where we start out is always home and usually the place we love the most?
ReplyDeleteI'm Florida born and raised, and never plan to live anywhere else!