Going home

Tomorrow, Jake, Peanut, and I are heading to Georgia for a week long visit. We will be staying with my mom, and then heading to Macon to spend a night with one of my very best friends on the planet, Holly :) I am hoping to have a cooperative baby on the trip, and I can always count on sweet Peanut to be on his best behavior because he gets to sit on Nanny's recliner for a whole week. And to Peanut, THAT, my friends, is Heaven.

I cannot describe the feeling that driving into Washington gives me. It's like a warm, comfy blanket on a cold day. Everything is familiar and somehow very, very comforting. I never in a million years expected to feel this way about the little town that I was so ready to escape. In a town this size, everybody knows everything about everybody else. There are no secrets in good ole Washington or any other small town like that either. Growing up, I was so ready to leave and get away. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to move back, but it is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by people who know you. Sometimes they know you a little too well, but it is still nice to see them.

Going home always makes me think about high school. I have wonderful memories from high school. I had some great friends (some of whom I will be seeing while I am home). We looked forward to the weekend so we could ride dirt roads and sit at Hardee's. Good Lord, I don't know why that was ever exciting, but it was. Each day after school you had to cruise the "strip" from Hardee's to Golden Pantry and back again a few times before going home to make sure you weren't missing anything. I can remember putting over a hundred miles on my old Mustang in a weekend just cruising the strip and dirt roads. Thank God gas was cheap. The poor Mustang and Betty, Jenny's Honda got taken alot of places small cars were not meant to go, and thankfully they  never let us down. Now, I probably would get lost on many of the paths I used to know so well, but there are fond memories stashed away on those old, dirt roads.

It will be nice to go visit places and see familiar faces. I worked and lived in Macon for so long that it began to feel like a small town, too. I rarely went anywhere without seeing a friend or former patient that wanted to stop and chat for a moment. That is one of the things that I have missed the most since moving here. There are times that I look around and think I see someone, but then I remember where I am. Next week, we will have the "traditional" Moe's lunch with friends and former co-workers. Since there is no Moe's in Mississippi, I have to get it while I am home. We will head to the Med to see the FBC ladies who are stuck at work - also, another place I never thought I would miss, but I do.

When we head out of Washington the following Saturday, the eyes will get misty and few tears will fall. It always happens. For the longest time, I tried to blame it on PMS, then there was the pregnancy, and now I have just sucked it up and admitted that that little town will always hold a special place in my heart. It will always be home, no matter where in the world "home" is.