Hometowns

No matter where you go, no matter how many places you plant roots, work, raise a family and make friends there will be but one place you will ever call your Hometown. It might be a hamlet or village, city or metropolis-it doesn't matter. Your hometown is where you grew up. You probably went to school there and most always relatives were near.

Summer is the time many go back to where memories of those early years are engrained in the sidewalks and parks, corner stores and downtowns, movie theatres and malls, libraries, trees, fields and maybe even rivers, streams, mountains or skyscrapers. Summer is the season of going back to family reunions where new babies are googled over and elders appreciated and familiar tales are heard again and new stories are told and newlyweds sit by couples who've gone through many a four seasons. Besides festivals and fairs, class reunions bring  people back home too. For a few hours you get to step back in time and recall the big game or moments in a classroom or certain teachers. Even better you get to check out classmates you may have had a crush on or classmates you forgot about or some you don't recognize at all.

Whatever constitutes your hometown remains a part of you wherever you go. No matter how successful you may become or how far you travel, your hometown welcomes you back as that little kid who rode a bike or jumped a rope or skipped a stone or played football in the neighbor's yard or hockey at the local rink. While things change in a hometown, some things remain the same and that's the feeling you get when returning. It wraps you up like a blanket and tells you, "Welcome Home!"

Comments

  1. ~ Sil in CoreaJuly 28, 2013 at 7:42 AM

    People in Korea who grew up in small towns share more in common with my small town upbringing in Maine. We hold the same values and "speak the same language," the language of the heart. I've also found this with villagers in Ireland and among Nigerians who were raised in small towns, too. I suspect that it is a world-wide characteristic. I would say that optimism and realistic thinking are balanced in most small-towners.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbara Briggs WardJuly 28, 2013 at 11:52 AM

      Interesting. Guess small towns ground us no matter where we live.

      Delete

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