Comforts of Nostalgia

For a long time down here, I've been leading a pretty anonymous existence. My kittens are pretty much the only ones who know who I am or want to play with me. I think that's why it's been so hard for me to get a sense of this place. Because how you feel about a place has a lot to do with how you feel about yourself IN that place. And I've been feeling a bit like a machine. Wake up, eat, look for jobs. Practice, look for jobs. Drive around, use internet at sister's house to look for jobs. Scoop litter.

With such a glamorous life, I guess it's pretty weird for me to miss my hometown. Even though most of my friends tend to get bogged down there and won't shut up about how little there is to do in Williamsburg, I never really get bored there. I love walking down Duke of Gloucester (especially in the fall/winter, with all the little bonfires outside the taverns). I love the fact that there are 3 bars total, and that a great view of the James River (polluted as it may be) is within biking distance from my house. And while it's not Star's Hollow small (if you get my reference, then you can't make fun), I like how it's unusual for me to go a day without running into a couple of people I've known since childhood.

Lately, though, life in Atlanta has started to materialize a little. Even though now I'm still a bit of a machine, at least I'm a working machine. I'm making money and interacting with people on a regular basis waitressing, teaching piano or being at my internship. And where before I felt like a lot of my attempts to translate my nonexistence in Atlanta to an existence online were disappearing into internet oblivion, now it's BECAUSE of the internet that I found two new piano students from Williamsburg! Mom and daughter are both studying and mom took me into bedroom at the first lesson to show me a huge painting of the Governor's Palace hanging above their bed. Daughter was good friends with a little girl in Williamsburg whose dad plays tennis with my dad. There's also a good chance my mom, a maternity nurse, helped deliver both kids.

 I'm being sentimental--it's only been a few months, and there are great things about being in a city. But it's pretty great to be able to mention Ironbound Road and have someone know exactly where that is. At least I'm not recreating Colonial Williamsburg in my bedroom.