Trading palm trees for corn fields
I grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And no, I'm not Amish.
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Lancaster's about an hour west of Philly but it's a world away. As you drive west from The City of Brotherly Love, the clock seems to work backwards. The urban congestion gives way to the gently rolling farmland of Chester and Lancaster Counties. This is the place where the American Revolution played out and Lancaster is the oldest inland city in the US. My ancestors settled there in 1740 and those rolling hills are encoded in my DNA.
When I become younger and dwelling there I felt the place to be a jail. Getting to Philly or Baltimore turned into a pain and I always felt like I was lacking out on some thing due to the fact I lived in a small metropolis. I longed for a trade of venue, some kind of one-of-a-kind surroundings.
What I couldn't see returned then changed into how stunning a place it is and how fortunate I changed into to stay just a piece removed from the harried nature of lifestyles in a first-rate metro. I left the vicinity for desirable within the early '90s and sought my fortune some other place.
A humorous thing has befell right here inside the final couple of years even though. The housing disintegrate reaped a quite grim harvest in Florida and one at a time, maximum of my friends left the location looking for greener pastures. As they left, I started touring for work a lot. While this turned into happening I've observed myself searching out an anchor again and again. I wanted something to tie me to Florida, to home.
That anchor by no means materialized however. In fact, as people maintain to transport away I'm much less tied to this vicinity than I ever had been. Part of me is aware of that I should exit and make new friends, but any other a part of me doesn't want to position forth the attempt.
While all of this has been gambling out, I've started to peer the appeal of the land wherein I was born and raised. I've been back for quick visits in the previous few years and my loved brother Steve's been imparting me his visitor room for a longer live.
So I'm going to do it. I'm going back to Pennsylvania for the complete month of July. I'll stay with Steve, paintings from his domestic and get a first hand look at what lifestyles's like in Lancaster now. I can take the educate to New York from there with none problem and I'll have geared up access to pretty much everywhere in the northeast, thanks to Amtrack.
Because it's farm u . S ., the local produce I'll have get right of entry to to is already making my mouth water. I'm looking forward to baking bread with my nieces and catching up with my nephews and siblings. I even have an massive family and our get togethers are as loud as they may be mythical. It'll be remarkable to cook dinner for an navy without the stress of having to leave proper away.
Truth be told, I'm staying for a month as a test of types. I need to see if I can cope with dwelling there once more. I need to look if I can handle trading palm timber for corn fields. I'm going into this with my eyes wide open and had a person informed me five years in the past that I could remember transferring returned to PA in the future I'd have laughed hysterically.
July will be an interesting month, that's for sure. As I mentioned in a Let's Blog Off post last fall , my life in Florida has always felt like borrowed time, even after 20+ years. I'm a Yankee's Yankee as hard as I try to ignore that.
As much as I love walking down the sidewalk to the beach, it doesn't really feel real. People in the Northeast think faster, understand things better and forge deeper bonds than they do here. Pennsylvania has a sense of place I miss. Leaving when I did was difficult, I felt that I was severing ties that were supposed to last a lifetime. I hope to reconnect some of those ties next month.
So I'll be blogging like a madman while I'm up there. I'll be experiencing matters and locations I understand already however it's going to feel like it is the primary time. I love living in which I do, but something's missing. Maybe I'll locate the lacking piece next month. And maybe I won't however it by no means hurts to look.