My Hometown

Definition of hometown: “the town where one was born or grew up, or the town of one’s present fixed residence.”

I’ve been away from home for 11 days on a road trip that spans a number of states. I am currently in my hometown, I think. See, I have lived in WI for 11 ½ years now in the same town. My husband says we can just round up, which I suppose is true since we don’t plan on moving before January. OK, with that let me start over. I’ve lived in one town in WI for 12 years. This is the longest I’ve lived in one town in my life. It’s also the town I consider to be home. I often wonder if this is because of the stage of life I am in. I am involved in the community, which makes it easier for me to feel a part of the community rather than apart from it. My kids were both born here and it’s their hometown so maybe that also has something to do with it.

** Tangent ** about the towns I’ve lived in, in my life. Born in New York. A few months shy of my 2^nd birthday I moved to CT. Ten years later I moved one town away, but it felt more like a different state. Nearly six years later I moved to Alabama for college. I spent one summer back in CT, but I always think back on my six years in AL and begin counting from my first year of college. By the time my high school graduation came around I had already mentally checked out of CT. After AL, came WI. 

So, here I am back in CT. A state that feels foreign to me.

I had a bizarre experience the other day when I took my family to Mystic Aquarium. I know I’ve been there before, in fact I recall being there with my husband and son 5 or 6 years ago…I think. Even with that aside I went with my mom years ago (code for I have no idea how far back). Nothing about the drive, the entrance to the aquarium or the aquarium itself looked familiar. For all I know I was at an aquarium in Rhode Island the other day. The entire visit I was consumed with the thought that I was in a sci-fi movie where my memory was erased and replaced with a microchip that was wearing off. I enjoyed watching my kids have fun and enjoyed moments, but the bizarreness of the whole thing was reignited in every area of the aquarium.

Growing up in CT meant traveling to NY to visit family and as I got older, to go out dancing. In NY you only had to be 18 to get into clubs, in CT the age was 21. I have few memories of “exploring” CT as a kid. There are, however, two things that ignite “hometown” feelings. One is something I’ve mentioned before; food! The other came to me while driving across New York State a few days ago. I love the rocks. I see them as slate, which reminds me of the foyer in my first CT house. It’s hard, dark, granite type rock crumbles WI limestone in an instant.

I am long past driving by the houses I grew up in; the truth is I was long past that within two years of moving away. I have no desire to take my kids on a tour of where I went to school. I did drive by my junior high school that is now a middle school, but it wasn’t out of nostalgia, it was just the most direct back road route from Carvel. It really does all come back to food when I’m here.

But I will gain 5 pounds in a week and I have been collecting rocks to bring back (I’m driving after all) from my Dad’s property aka “woods”. I do enjoy the windy, hilly, woods-lined streets of CT. I enjoy them so much it bothers me a little that my husband and kids all get carsick while riding on them.

For me, my hometown is “the town of one’s present fixed residence” or is it? I’ll be back in my hometown in another week and when someone new asks me where I’m from I’ll say, “CT” and then I’ll think about the food and the slate, rather than places and things.  Yet, whenever I visit CT it’s never long enough.

Where’s your hometown and what comes to mind when you think about it?