While Nokesville, Virginia is still "home base" more or less, I haven't lived there except for in-between times in the past four years or so. Generally I'm completely fine with this. Nokesville is on the edge of some icky gross suburbia sprawl and it never looks quite like it did the time before whenever I get back to visit. Most of my friends from high school don't live in the area anymore. However, there's enough that stays the same that it's still "home" when it comes down to it and that's good.
Sometimes I wonder if I should still be out in the great wide world of non-Nokesville. I think it's good for people to experience life beyond what they knew growing up and it's okay to come back home. Whether or not that's for me, I don't really know yet. I don't particularly fancy myself as someone who'd stay in Nokesville anymore; it's become a bit more of an uppity area. There's also the fact that I doubt I'd be able to afford housing in the area, especially with Nokesville proper having hardly any apartment-esque living options. Throw in a mildly conservative mindset and it just doesn't seem terribly appealing.
On the other hand, I miss out on a lot of stuff. I don't get to visit with Grandpa, the great-aunts, Memee, or any of the other Beahm and Bear clan on a regular basis. I've missed all of the cousins getting hitched in the past few years; there's another one happening this weekend. The pregnancy epidemic sweeping through my home congregation is just now showing up as a blip on my radar and all of them are due by early May. Our family dog, Roxie, is not doing so well and I'm not there to be sad and eat ice cream with my sister when Roxie goes.
I guess this is my version of being homesick if there is such a thing. I don't think I actually get homesick really. At camp growing up I could never understand the kids that missed home so much they got sick. Seriously? You're at CAMP! "C'mon, let's go look for salamanders and then I'm gonna eat that plant over there!" (Note: I never would've said this; I would've done it by myself. They could join if they wanted to.) The same is true for the college kids who just wanted to go home. Unfathomable. Obviously I like my hometown well enough, but I don't long to be there every waking moment.
Yet every once in a while, I wonder about how things are going back in Nokesville. After all, the majority of my life thus far was spent there. I may be familiar with the roads in Alamosa, Cincinnati, Frystown, Middleburg, Mountain Grove, West Liberty, and Portland, but I'll probably always know the roads of Nokesville.
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