Sometimes you just can't go home
So, for work today, I had to go to Worthington to do a site visit of one of our new Greater Minnesota School Arts Fund projects. This new project means more than most because I have a family connection.
So, I decided to go the long way, via Omaha. That way I could see my cousins and their daughter (who is also a music teacher) and see old friends at Arrow Stage Lines, then drive to Worthington.
Sunday night -- had dinner with the family and had a wonderful time. They are helping me connect the dots when it comes to my father's side of the family. I learned more pieces of the puzzle, and I came away from the experience with the realization that it really is a miracle that with all I went through with my parents and their illnesses/divorce/etc, that I didn't end up in a institution or something.
So, I decided to DC's Saloon (their answer to an Eagle) and have a beer. There were 5 people in the bar. 5. On a Sunday night. In Omaha.
Now granted, the coversation was hysterical. The one bartender had been a student of a vocal director who I followed at one of my schools. Learned all the dirty secrets I had long suspected. Then, another gentlemen at the bar knew 2 of my colleagues from the same school -- had grown up with one of them, and was going to call them today to tell them hi from me. Wonder what they will think when they find out it was a gay bar where we saw each other.
Still, it was very depressing. I felt like I had gone back to Hicksville.
Today was worse. While I had fun at Arrow, it just wasn't the same. All of my favorite radio stations are gone, replaced by a boatload of religious music or right wing looniness. My favorite bakery was replaced with another one, and the food was awful. I got coffee at my favorite coffee place, and it wasn't that good. Even the transit buses look like they just rolled out of the junkyard. I mean, who picks puke yellow for a base color, and then put reflective red-white-blue stripes on it?
The vibe really depressed me and kind of freaked me out. I know places change and all, but I've never been this disconcerted when I've visited Omaha. I will still go back and see my family, but that might be it.
It was a good reminder of how far I've come in the past 6 years, why I love what I do, and why I left Omaha. While there was a lot of pain in the first year, it has opened up into the world I only dreamed of...a world I could have NEVER experienced in Omaha.
So, I decided to go the long way, via Omaha. That way I could see my cousins and their daughter (who is also a music teacher) and see old friends at Arrow Stage Lines, then drive to Worthington.
Sunday night -- had dinner with the family and had a wonderful time. They are helping me connect the dots when it comes to my father's side of the family. I learned more pieces of the puzzle, and I came away from the experience with the realization that it really is a miracle that with all I went through with my parents and their illnesses/divorce/etc, that I didn't end up in a institution or something.
So, I decided to DC's Saloon (their answer to an Eagle) and have a beer. There were 5 people in the bar. 5. On a Sunday night. In Omaha.
Now granted, the coversation was hysterical. The one bartender had been a student of a vocal director who I followed at one of my schools. Learned all the dirty secrets I had long suspected. Then, another gentlemen at the bar knew 2 of my colleagues from the same school -- had grown up with one of them, and was going to call them today to tell them hi from me. Wonder what they will think when they find out it was a gay bar where we saw each other.
Still, it was very depressing. I felt like I had gone back to Hicksville.
Today was worse. While I had fun at Arrow, it just wasn't the same. All of my favorite radio stations are gone, replaced by a boatload of religious music or right wing looniness. My favorite bakery was replaced with another one, and the food was awful. I got coffee at my favorite coffee place, and it wasn't that good. Even the transit buses look like they just rolled out of the junkyard. I mean, who picks puke yellow for a base color, and then put reflective red-white-blue stripes on it?
The vibe really depressed me and kind of freaked me out. I know places change and all, but I've never been this disconcerted when I've visited Omaha. I will still go back and see my family, but that might be it.
It was a good reminder of how far I've come in the past 6 years, why I love what I do, and why I left Omaha. While there was a lot of pain in the first year, it has opened up into the world I only dreamed of...a world I could have NEVER experienced in Omaha.