Tuesday, October 4, 2016

There's no place like home

This past weekend, I visited Hartwick College.  It was homecoming weekend.  Although it wasn't my reunion year, I still went back.  In fact, I have been going back every year since I graduated.  When I arrived, I was greeted with hugs by old friends, and relatively new friends.  Some of the students came up to greet me and some were there to meet me.  I worked at Hartwick before moving to Brooklyn.

The weekend started slowly with me recruiting interns for my office.  I spent most of Friday working on some photos from a fashion show.



Friday night, I picked my husband up from the bus station in Albany so he could spend the weekend with me.




Saturday morning, the hugs began for real.  David, my husband, wasn't used to so many strangers hugging him.  Fortunately for me, very few of them were strangers, and the hugs were something I cherish and remember.



The weekend ended with a memorial service for those Hartwick friends and family who didn't make it to another reunion because they have died.  This solemn and touching end to the weekend gets to me every year.  I know that there will be at least one or two names on the list of deceased that were a part of my life.  This year, two professors of mine had passed away and one older alumnus who was a friend.

I got to thinking as I drove back to Brooklyn.  David was asleep in the car next to me and I reflected on what makes something feel like home.

There are only a few places in my life that ever felt like home.  Most places just felt like a temporary holding spot until something better came along.  

Home is a place where you feel like you belong.  In Oneonta, in spite of the small size, I feel like I belong....or belonged.  Going back there, I always run into wonderful people.  These are people who value the education we got, even if they are decades older or younger than me.

The other places I think of as home are my parent's house and my house in Rochester, New York.  Both places make me feel great when I'm there.

Brooklyn doesn't feel like home yet, but I'm getting there.


So what does one do?

I guess I should ask, what does Eric do?

I try to figure out what makes something feel like home.

1.) Smiling people whose names I know and they know mine.
2.) Friends - it's really hard to make friends here for some reason
3.) Music - I need to be making music again.  I got to sing with my fraternity brothers this weekend and it felt amazing
4.) Church - this one is actually working here
5.) A gym or workout routine I like - struggle bus on this one.  I've got frozen shoulder on top of a case of can't get out of bed.
6.) Sharing of life - This one is starting to happen more and more.

I think I might be on my way.  If you get all the way to the end of this...tell me what you think makes something feel like home instead of a temporary living spot.





1 comment:

  1. Familiarity of the location - knowing my way around a place, even the back roads and shortcuts.

    And also contra friends have made me feel welcome after dancing someplace awhile.

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