Loping Backwards To My Roots

I'm  homesick.  Everyone gets the yearning to return to where they once lived, or to see family that lives far away or just  that homesick kinda sick that they can't contribute to anything else.  So, one puts it in a homesick category.  Like, "I'm homesick for grandma's apple pie.  Or,  "I'm homesick for the mountains."   Possibly,  "I'm homesick for the body I had when I was 30."  Just that rather insipid longing  for what we had once but don't have right at this moment.  Or haven't had for quite some time. 

 
In my case,  I'm homesick for the state I came from.  Not the whole state;  just part of it.  Mostly the part where I lived when I had my babies.  My babies are now 44 and 41, so it's been awhile ago.  I was momentarily homesick for the town where I went to high school until I remembered I didn't necessarily like high school.  That isn't the towns fault, it was just

 because I was a teenager.  I think there are few adults, once they pass the age of 29,  who can  look back on their teens and say,  "Wow!  Those were great years!"  Seriously, being a teenager is one of the most difficult things most of us will ever have to go through.....except maybe childbirth and raising teenagers.   Or maybe passing a kidney stone.  Or eating cold gravy.  GROSS!

Where was I?  Oh, the town  where I first tee-peed a tree, tried my first cigarette, had my first drink.  Well,  make that a sip because I didn't get further than that.  Was not a fan of alcoholic beverages in my teens.  I think that started when my children became teens.  Than I suddenly found drinking necessary for my survival.....or  theirs.  Depends on how you want to look at it.   Lots of 'first' during those gawd-awful teen years,  but most don't bear repeating.  No, they weren't that bad.  Just not interesting enough to even make a good story out of.   There's always the option of colorful exaggeration but,  that's just a lot of work.  

This story was going somewhere.....but, where?  How do you lose a train of thought if you didn't have it to start with?  I never get on a train;  I just kind of nab hold of the rear of the caboose and hope to grab something.  Metaphorically speaking.   Topic is homesickness.  Back on track. (Track?  Train?  Caboose?? Is there a trip in my future?)  

We moved from Colorado to  South Dakota in 1978.  It's now 2009 and suddenly I'm homesick for the Rocky Mountains.  The Black Hills suddenly are not working for me.  We lived in Denver for something like a total of 15 or 16 years and now I feel like going  'home'.   That's just stupid and weird!  I go insane every time we get within 50 miles and driving in the midst of 2 million cars all trying to drive us off the road.....or, at least I assume that's what is happening.  It's so hard to see through the cloud of exhaust fumes, I can't say that for sure.  Before we're in the city we're longing for the comfort of our  own familiar  clogged traffic with the rude and crazy drivers.  We can still see the hills even on the worst of days,  whereas I don't believe we've seen the mountains on a semi-clear day in Denver in years.  

Blogging works!  I'm no longer homesick.......I'm completely happy where I am.