Home.
14 hours from now, I will be on the road.
I will most likely have my headphones on, drifting in and out of sleep as the words and the music find their way to my ears. And as we're rolling along I-81 South, speeding past leaf-less trees that have succumbed to the early winter of northern New York, I will be indescribably content.
I'll be going home. The place which will always hold a special place in my heart and soul. That place that will always be the setting for the beginning chapter of the story of my life.
And I know I've said it countless times before, but I'll say it again a million and one times: I can't wait.
I cannot wait to drive on those roads that I used to drive on, cruise on those old, familiar highways that I could still drive with my eyes closed because they are forever etched in my memory.
And these five days are going to be magical and perfect. I can feel it already. And I refuse to let overreactions and petty arguments ruin my holiday.
It's so ironic, because for so many years I couldn't wait to leave the valley because there was nothing there. And now, looking back, I realize that everything was there right in front of me. We may have been bored at times and gone to the lowly Wyoming Valley Mall three times in one day because that was really the only thing there was to do, but we enjoyed it. Maybe we were just afraid to admit it at the time, but those were the best years of our lives.
We couldn't wait to get out of there and move on, and now that we have, we all want it back.
It's irony at its finest. Cruel and sick and twisted.
But we still have the memories of those golden years that flew past us in a seeming blink of an eye. And we'll cling onto them forever and we'll always find the warmth and comfort of home in NEPA whenever we come back.
We may move thousands of miles away, to the shores of California or the mountains of Wyoming or the plains of Kentucky, but Pennsylvania will always be "home." We'll always be NEPA kids at heart.
I will most likely have my headphones on, drifting in and out of sleep as the words and the music find their way to my ears. And as we're rolling along I-81 South, speeding past leaf-less trees that have succumbed to the early winter of northern New York, I will be indescribably content.
I'll be going home. The place which will always hold a special place in my heart and soul. That place that will always be the setting for the beginning chapter of the story of my life.
And I know I've said it countless times before, but I'll say it again a million and one times: I can't wait.
I cannot wait to drive on those roads that I used to drive on, cruise on those old, familiar highways that I could still drive with my eyes closed because they are forever etched in my memory.
And these five days are going to be magical and perfect. I can feel it already. And I refuse to let overreactions and petty arguments ruin my holiday.
It's so ironic, because for so many years I couldn't wait to leave the valley because there was nothing there. And now, looking back, I realize that everything was there right in front of me. We may have been bored at times and gone to the lowly Wyoming Valley Mall three times in one day because that was really the only thing there was to do, but we enjoyed it. Maybe we were just afraid to admit it at the time, but those were the best years of our lives.
We couldn't wait to get out of there and move on, and now that we have, we all want it back.
It's irony at its finest. Cruel and sick and twisted.
But we still have the memories of those golden years that flew past us in a seeming blink of an eye. And we'll cling onto them forever and we'll always find the warmth and comfort of home in NEPA whenever we come back.
We may move thousands of miles away, to the shores of California or the mountains of Wyoming or the plains of Kentucky, but Pennsylvania will always be "home." We'll always be NEPA kids at heart.