Dear Holiday Travelers,
If you’re like me then this holiday season you will be returning to your childhood home. You may be traveling across the world, or down road, but either way the realization of change will be drastic. I can only speak for myself but I personally enjoy the contrast both places provide.
Just before Thanksgiving I spent my time in Chicago enjoying "the smaller things". I would go on late night walks down Lasalle Avenue marveling at the tall buildings and amber glow. I would smile upon my morning commutes in which private space became public. I took the time to see the last minutes of the golden 4:30 sunlight hit some random high-rise window. It was enjoyable even to watch small commanding children lock eyes with sleepy eyed riders on the EL. It's the times in which big city life is put into small prospective that makes life so enjoyable.
But in the country it’s never the small things that make life worth it. Everything is small. Banal stories of leaf raking and dog haircuts fill the conversation. Long thoughts regarding the weather, and snowstorms fill the voids. It’s a little slower and a lot smaller out here. What makes it worth it is exactly the opposite; small town life being placed into big perspective. Hope is the name of the game. It's what gets us through when the jobs dry up or when the schools have leaky roofs. Its what I try to keep in mind when I’m home. I’m not out looking for the "smaller things", rather the best moments are when life seem so big. Its those shimmering frosty stars that are missed in the amber glow of Chicago that make it worth it.
For me I latch on to the contrast both places provide. The conversations about leaf raking, are just as good as that 4:30 Chicago sunlight. Both make life a little greater.
Yours,
Thoroughly pleased
And readers please let me know about what holiday travel presents for you.
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I like this. I'm glad you can take pleasure from the little things even in the Big City :).
ReplyDeleteEven though I only travel a half or so from my current apartment to my childhood home it feels as though I traverse time itself. As you said, everything is slower, and it feels a lot older. The woods, though the trees grow bigger, never changes and the same smells fill the air. My house sits just as solidly on its land as ever and the play-structure from my youth still looks inviting with its fading paint.
As soon as I pull into my long driveway I can breathe a little easier and everything else seems to be pulled from my mind as I ease up to the house. The dogs come running out and I get to enter into the world of my childhood past.
I think I might go home today...
Love.