I loved this so much! When I left LA for college I was certain I'd never come back to live here, that I hated it, and then time passed and I realized it was home.
I feel like HATING your hometown is a rite of passage. You have to wriggle the hatred out of your system by going places, and then you become free to turn right back around and go home.
So good!!! I too bought a house in my hometown (a mere five minutes from my childhood home where my parents still live) and feel so much the same about it as you wrote here. I feel like a "native plant" here, I always say. Like I understand how to grow in this particular place and climate and soil. I could have wanted more. In some ways I still do. But like you said you have to live somewhere! And this place is good!
Secretly, I also had a continent move when I was little, so it took a long time for me to synthesize the sense of belonging. It's more something I've acquired as an adult, ha! But I am lucky to have it.
I loved this so much! When I left LA for college I was certain I'd never come back to live here, that I hated it, and then time passed and I realized it was home.
I feel like HATING your hometown is a rite of passage. You have to wriggle the hatred out of your system by going places, and then you become free to turn right back around and go home.
So good!!! I too bought a house in my hometown (a mere five minutes from my childhood home where my parents still live) and feel so much the same about it as you wrote here. I feel like a "native plant" here, I always say. Like I understand how to grow in this particular place and climate and soil. I could have wanted more. In some ways I still do. But like you said you have to live somewhere! And this place is good!
A native plant!!
This is such a beautiful and resonant piece. Cheers on your new house and your community. ❤️
Secretly, I also had a continent move when I was little, so it took a long time for me to synthesize the sense of belonging. It's more something I've acquired as an adult, ha! But I am lucky to have it.