Double-Parked In Paradise

[haoleifyouhear]

"Don't get stuck here, Kit," my almost-friend told me.  "If you stay here too long, you'll never be able to leave.  Do yourself a favor and get out quickly."

He'd lived here his whole life, and hated it, but of course, he hated a lot of things.  I always laughed when he started talking like that.

My hometown was a glistening slab of suburbia close

Comments

[sunny_serenity]

[haoleifyouhear]

Yeah, it's true that when you're stuck somewhere your only real problem is yourself. I do think that the concept of home is a really tough one as you get older... as a kid, you never question this stuff, but when you get older it becomes almost a quest to find a place that gives you that secure feeling again. Eh, who knows. Maybe that's what you make it too.

*TACKLEBACK*

[oceanstorme]

Dorothy Gale reference - from Tin Man? I completely loved that movie and we listen to the score from it because the music is so gorgeous.

I think people are really trying to escape themselves and the lives they create - it really doesn't matter where you go, because you will always be there wherever you end up. And everything you try to leave behind usually ends up coming along. I think the key is to be happy with your life and make it your life and then, no matter where you go, you will be happy.

And ain't it funny that even though you manage to escape a place, you will always remember it fondly and even miss it? Or you'll talk about it with a sense of nostalgia that is broken when you actually revisit the place in person?

I know that when we move one day - I'm sure we will - I'll miss this home. But I know that we'll bring "home" with us wherever we go, and that is the important part.

[haoleifyouhear]

A very good observation, and you're right, people who have serious problems will cart them around with them each place they go. I get that. I don't know if that was the case with me -- I think I was just sick of suburbia, maybe -- but I can definitely see how that works.

I know I thought I would never miss Ohio, not ever. But there are things about it, now, that I miss very much.

[fromourruins]

This post reminded me of a quote by John Milton:

"The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven."

[haoleifyouhear]

Excellent. And very true.

[purplejamish]

You know, I never thought of it like that before. But you are so right. Nearly everyone I met in Aberdeen who'd grown up there was dying to leave, but I cried so hard when I had to. It was so beautiful. To them, when it rained the grey sky matched the grey buildings and closed around them depressingly. (This is the popular view of Aberdeen.) To me, the raindrops showed up the light flecks in the granite, so the buildings sparkled in the (frequent) rain. So many people with their heads down against the wind, they never looked up to see how gorgeous the architechture was.

One man's prison is another's escape. I suppose really, what everyone wants to escape from is the place where they have been someone they no longer want to be. And now I've left the (tiny, claustrophobic, always holding me back, aaahhhh get me ouuutttt) town I grew up in, I can see that, and I can see how pretty and lovely my town actually was.

...anyway. Really, all I wanted to say is that I agree. And you are wise ♥

[haoleifyouhear]

There are a lot of people here in Hawaii who would never, never leave. Like everywhere you go, for some people it's tradition, for some it's pride, some fear, some ignorance, and for a lot of people, maybe most of them, genuine love for their home. They're lucky, I guess... a lot of people work so hard and travel so far just to try to find home.

Awww. Thanks, pumpkin.

[haoleifyouhear]

I understand totally how you feel. I would never go back to my town, but now that I'm in its polar opposite, I feel like there's a lot that I miss about living in that area. The forests were amazing, the autumns were so colorful and smelled so good. We don't have that here at all. Maybe we just need to get as far away as possible to really appreciate it.