There’s something weird about visiting your hometown after moving away. I went back to Wisconsin last weekend for Thanksgiving. It was the first time I’d been back since July. While I’ve been away from home much longer than this in the past, something felt different this time.
Since I’d left, my sister had moved off to her first year of college, making my parents empty nesters. They’d bought a new car. I could pass my parents on the street and wouldn’t even know it was them anymore.
An area of town that had previously only held an old empty Shopko building now is home to a Big Lots, Five Below and Noodles and Company. The old Perkins building was torn down and they’ve started construction on what will eventually be a Chipotle. The city had even made changes to intersections and round-a-bouts regarding lanes. None of these major things, but still changes to the city I had grown up in.
I think the feeling I get watching the city change from far away is a little like how people feel when they see a child only a few times a year. When you’re close to someone or something, you don’t see the changes as they are gradual. However, when you only see them every few months, the changes are much more pronounced and obvious.
When I was little and visiting my grandparents, my parents would point out areas of their hometown that had changed. Some spaces had drastic differences, such as an old cornfield now being a shopping complex. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for them.
Having now lived somewhere besides my hometown for almost a year, I’m starting to get it.
Along with these changes, there are changes in myself that I’ve seen. Having gotten used to living on my own and the general quiet calm I have around me, being home for even one night quickly over-stimulated me. I just wasn’t used to the constant noise and motion that our house consisted of when full.
I quickly became tired and irritable the first two days, relating much to my cat. Due to the constant commotion and likely over-stimulation for her, the normally busy nights of running around and waking my mom for food changed to a full night of sleep for her.
I’ve found it really easy to slip back into all my old habits when at home. I think I had to take more lactaid pills in one day at home than I do in a week here. And despite not having put my heat on in my apartment yet, I was 10 times colder back home than I ever am here. After running the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning with my sister, I spent the next hour in front of our fireplace with a comforter wrapped around me.
However, before this becomes just me complaining about my home, I should probably mention some positives. There’s the obvious of spending time with my family. Family time is never lost on me, whether it’s playing Monopoly (I won) and Aggravation (I lost) or watching the newest “Doctor Who” special together.
My sister and I ran together twice, something I certainly don’t love but was nice to share with my exercise-loving sister. We also went Black Friday shopping and I got to meet her boyfriend for the first time.
There’s also the time spent with my kitty, Twinkie. I am a proud crazy cat lady, and nothing brings me more happiness than getting to hang out with her. While she certainly knows how to hold a grudge, she quickly forgave me for being gone for four months. More than once this weekend, she followed me around just staring at me until I sat cross-legged on the ground. I’m the only person whose lap she’ll sit on when on the ground.
Going back to the Black Friday shopping, I was hit by how much I miss being able to just quickly run to the mall, or really any store that isn’t Walmart. Rather than the hour trek to Des Moines, I could be to Target, Lush, etc in about 15 minutes.
When you move away from your hometown, there’s a lot of give and take. While it certainly isn’t terribly dramatic moving seven and a half hours away to Creston, I do think a lot about this in regards to my future. I have dreams of living in the UK, specifically Edinburgh. The changes I’ve witnessed on this trip and the things I miss would become tenfold in a move like that. Would the give and take be too much? It wasn’t when I studied abroad, but there was an end date to that.
Who knows what life will bring in the coming years, both for me and for my hometown.