September 23
As I pack the suitcases and empty the refrigerator, there is awareness that I am not the same person who came here 4 weeks ago. The past few weeks of being back in the town where I grew up have led me to the absolute conviction that family and friends are the best medicine for whatever ails you. Almost every day of the past month has been filled with visits and phone calls from and to those people who have been in my life for years and who know like no one else can. My energy is better, I feel and look healthier than a did a month ago.
I have spent this time laughing, reminiscing, catching up, crying, and hugging. People who I’ve not seen in years stopped by or phoned to reconnect, my family and dearest friends were there. The weeks flew by so fast that there was not nearly enough time to see everyone who I wanted to see nor to do all that I wanted to do.
It is so hard to leave! The time here has reminded me that Kewaunee is my home, my roots are here and a part of my heart is attached to this community. When I go to North Carolina I lose that sense of my history. Those I see who knew my family back a generation or more, those who remember me as a kid, that is a part of being in my hometown. The small town feeling that makes a community part of us is a difference from the feeling I get in the suburban araea where I don’t know any of my neighbors by name and don’t know a soul at the grocery store. Here I not only know that girl checking me out, but I know her parents and grandparents and maybe even the name of their dog. It is a different world.
So how do we create that sense of community and develop deep friendships in those areas where people are transient. Can we build that “home town” feeling? I hope so.
This month has taught me how important friendship is to well-being. There is an intimacy that comes from sharing a lifetime of memories and with it comes a depth of caring and trust. However, I am not sure that the years of history are absolutely necessary for deep friendship. Can that feeling of connectedness be developed without the years? That will be the question to ponder and explore when I return to my new home in the South.
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