Homesick

I arrived here in Albany, NY a couple of days ago to photograph a brand-new Residence Inn hotel for Marriott.  When I got my rental car, I decided to do some exploring (since the hotel wasn't ready), and look around, since I'd never been to Albany before.

Bad idea.

After having just moved to Twin Falls, ID from Virginia less than a year ago, I've been enjoying the fact that my wife is so happy with her new job, as well as the lack of humidity and the beautiful sunsets.  My teenagers, however, have been long-suffering, but unhappy.  Mostly because music was such a huge part of their life in VA, and was something they both took pride in, especially my very talented 15 year old son, who plays the French Horn.

As I drove the tree-lined streets of Albany, admiring the brilliant colors of fall and the stately old homes, a flood of memories of growing up in Michigan and rural Pennsylvania washed over me, and I immediately felt a cocktail of nostalgia and homesickness envelope me, bringing me to tears.  This feeling was exacerbated, of course, by passing the local high school, and watching the marching band practice out on the field... which was crushing, knowing the my kids' new high school doesn't even HAVE a marching band.

Now... I have to confess that I ran out of my anti-depressant a couple of days ago, and so I'm "cold-turkey" unmedicated, which doesn't help... but it made me wonder, if just for a few minutes, if we really made the right decision to move out west, especially considering the housing nightmare we encountered once there.

We miss the rain.  We miss the history.  We miss the colors of fall.  We miss the music.  We miss the fireflies.  We miss the thunderstorms.  We miss having all of our favorite restaurants right there where we live.  We miss everything, I would venture, but the humidity.

My family likes the East... loves the East... but to me it's deeper... even though I spent my later teen years in Utah, my childhood and early teen years were spent back here... and it dawned on me as I drove the streets of Albany... that this... the East... was "home" to me.  And I realized just how homesick *I* really am.

Does this change anything?  Not really.  We still live in Twin Falls, and probably will for some time.  But every so often I suppose it's helpful to remember... and cherish.