My Home Town

Today I was reminded of what it means to have a "Home Town"!!!

You see... until I moved to Boise, Idaho I never had one. My father was in the Air Force until I was 10. During that time we lived in Maine, California, Germany, Washington and Arkansas. Then I joined the Air Force myself and started over. Hawaii, Nebraska, Germany, then settling in Idaho. My goodness! In 27 years I'd lived in 9 different states/countries! That doesn't count all the moves within states/countries! The longest I'd lived in one place was the four years I spent in high school in Ferndale, Washington.

I remember in high school hearing my friends talk about people they'd known since Kindergarten and thinking, "Wow! That would be so cool!" I couldn't imagine knowing someone my whole life!!! I was a bit envious and a whole lot intrigued!

I was always fascinated by the "small world" coincidences in life. You know, seeing someone from your childhood... Specific incidents stand out in my memory: in Air Force Basic Training I met a wonderful young man from Champaign, Illinois... we talked and found out that our grandmothers lived a mile apart in Trier, Germany! We thought that was a sign from God that we were meant to be together and actually got engaged for a short time! (okay... gimme a break, I was 17!!!). Later, when I was in Germany working for the American Red Cross, a man came into my office whom I had graduated high school with! Here in Boise I met my friend's boyfriend, and after what I call "military butt-sniffing" we realized we had been stationed at the same teeny-tiny air station in Germany at the same time! Yeah, pretty cool coincidences, and I got an incredible kick out of having a connection with people from my past!

Side note: Military Butt-Sniffing - an act wherein each individual involved asks such questions as: "Where were you stationed?" "What did you do?" Did you know _________?"
Similar to "Idaho Butt-Sniffing" - wherein each individual asks, "Where did you go to school?" "Who was your math teacher?" "Did you know _____________?"
Similar to "Doggy Butt-Sniffing" - (without verbalizing, only sniffing) "Where did you last poop?", "Where do you go for your grooming?" "Do you know ______________?"

I have now lived in Boise, Idaho for almost 16 years. It still amazes me!!! Better yet, my kids have lived here almost their entire lives! (they're 23 & 21) Invariably one or the other will tell me, "I ran into so and so that I went to kindergarten/elementary/jr. high with". Whenever that happens, I get a little thrill!

My kids have a connection!!!!!

I am so happy that circumstances have allowed me to give them this precious, precious gift! I'm sure they don't really appreciate it, only because it's a known to them... but take it from one who's never known that kind of connection... it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. To feel you really belong gives a sort of comfort... a security if you will.

Today I got to see a bit of that, yet again... and it thrilled me as it always does (I never get tired of it!!!)

I was online, on facebook, and was posting a message on a friend's profile. This is a new friend, one I met through blogging, via an initial connection through her father, who is a dear friend of mine as well. I noticed that one of her friends was also the best friend of my son. I commented on that, and mentioned that she probably knew my son. It turned out that she knew my son through friends of hers that he snowboarded with, and knew my daughter by meeting her at Bogus Basin.

Okay, that got me fascinated enough... (seriously, the whole connection thing is such an enigma to me... )

We emailed more...

Turns out that she, my son and my daughter all went to the same high school here in Boise within a few years of each other! I showed my daughter her picture and she said, "Oh yeah! I know her!" My son said, when I mentioned it to him, "I know who you mean! Does she have long dark hair?"

You're probably thinking right now, "Big deal!" My own daughter couldn't get why I got such a kick out of it.

Let me tell you... it is a big deal.

Unless you've never had that kind of connection with your world, it's hard to appreciate it. Yes, it's very cool to have lived in many different places, but there's nothing like the connection of having a place to call home, to know that you have roots and that they are firmly planted in the soil of your hometown, to be able to say, "I'm from ___________", to say when you're in your 40's or 50's, "Yeah, I went to Boise High, too! Class of ______"

In my life there had been only one place I could go and feel I was "home". Whenever I would fly to Germany, I would step out of the plane, go out of the airport, and my eyes would fill with tears of joy... I was home... I was in the land of my family, and although I had only lived there less than a quarter of my life, I was, in my mind, home.

Now, when I fly into Boise, my eyes fill with tears of joy... I am home... I am in the land of my family, and since I've lived here almost 16 years and raised my family, I am... home.

As usual, I have sort of a point here... Today's conversation with my friend made me think how precious it is to have a connection in life... to have roots... to have a place to go home to. In a way I envy the connection my children have with their friends from the past. I sometimes wish I knew someone from elementary or jr. high school. But more than that, it makes me hope that those who do have that sort of connection really appreciate it!

(Aren't the little things in life incredibly amazing????)