omg post
So I guess it's time for me to get back in the habit of writing in this thing. I'm about to spend six months at sea where apparently my free time will be plentiful, so I've got to make sure to fill it with productivity and things that don't poison my body.
I'm writing this from a coffee shop in my hometown -- a shop that was no more than a mound of dirt last time I was home. This is a mind trip in a few ways for me.
First off, it feels like the whole time I lived in this town (18 years), nothing ever changed. We got a new Wal-Mart when I was like 8, and they built an Albertson's in my neighborhood when I was like 16. Oh, and the Dairy Queen moved across the street at some point in between. Now, every time I come home it feels as though this town has doubled in size. New subdivisions left and right, Home Despot, Chili's, and free wireless internet?! How cosmopolitan! I know things grow, but I'm afraid that these changes are a sign of things to come. Another 10 years, and Richmond/Rosenberg will be Sugar Land. Not in the sense that Sugar Land will annex us, but rather, Houston is still growing, and Sugar Land has pretty much been engulfed. What was once wide big fields (that I can still vividly remember) is now First Colony Mall, a giant hotel, and First Colony's "town square" (Starbucks; Bed, Bath, & Beyond; etc.). Now the fields are being sold in my town and are being converted to coffee shops, Mexican restaurants, and gas stations. And I have mixed feelings about this. I remember being a bitter 18 year-old (as opposed to the cheerfully optimistic 25 year-old you all know so well(/sarcasm)) and hating this place for being boring and in the middle of nowhere. But I also remember being about 4 years old and looking out the back window of our house and being able to see the sugar factory (which no longer makes sugar), about 10 miles away, something we haven't been able to do for at least 15 years.
My God, time flies. And as much in my life as I've thought, "I'm not happy here," there's so much that I look back fondly upon, even wishing that I could go back in time and relive some of it. So I guess when I sail off in six days for six months, and even when I'm making the sixtieth stop on my forever-long cruise, I want to be certain that I know I'm happy. Because as I visit these incredible places and have no requirements on my life but to play music for people who are having the time of their lives, it would be a huge mistake for me to think otherwise.
I'm writing this from a coffee shop in my hometown -- a shop that was no more than a mound of dirt last time I was home. This is a mind trip in a few ways for me.
First off, it feels like the whole time I lived in this town (18 years), nothing ever changed. We got a new Wal-Mart when I was like 8, and they built an Albertson's in my neighborhood when I was like 16. Oh, and the Dairy Queen moved across the street at some point in between. Now, every time I come home it feels as though this town has doubled in size. New subdivisions left and right, Home Despot, Chili's, and free wireless internet?! How cosmopolitan! I know things grow, but I'm afraid that these changes are a sign of things to come. Another 10 years, and Richmond/Rosenberg will be Sugar Land. Not in the sense that Sugar Land will annex us, but rather, Houston is still growing, and Sugar Land has pretty much been engulfed. What was once wide big fields (that I can still vividly remember) is now First Colony Mall, a giant hotel, and First Colony's "town square" (Starbucks; Bed, Bath, & Beyond; etc.). Now the fields are being sold in my town and are being converted to coffee shops, Mexican restaurants, and gas stations. And I have mixed feelings about this. I remember being a bitter 18 year-old (as opposed to the cheerfully optimistic 25 year-old you all know so well(/sarcasm)) and hating this place for being boring and in the middle of nowhere. But I also remember being about 4 years old and looking out the back window of our house and being able to see the sugar factory (which no longer makes sugar), about 10 miles away, something we haven't been able to do for at least 15 years.
My God, time flies. And as much in my life as I've thought, "I'm not happy here," there's so much that I look back fondly upon, even wishing that I could go back in time and relive some of it. So I guess when I sail off in six days for six months, and even when I'm making the sixtieth stop on my forever-long cruise, I want to be certain that I know I'm happy. Because as I visit these incredible places and have no requirements on my life but to play music for people who are having the time of their lives, it would be a huge mistake for me to think otherwise.