You take 1/2

So it's 2012 - end of the Mayan calendar, beginning of my first mile marker in becoming a centenarian. Just kidding, I know I'm being a little dramatic about my birthday, so don't worry that's not why I'm writing to you today. I've been thinking about sharing; you know this was the first year my honeys came with me over the holidays. I had spent a few holidays with his family so this completed the circle - we shared our families with each other. At the end of it my bf discovered I'm the weird one in my family...
We shared so many wonderful moments together, laughing at my nephew who talks like he's a thirty year old trapped in a three year old body. Seeing the matriarch of my family hold our newest member. Listening to my sister vow to only invest in relationship that are valuable in the truest sense of that word. We spent four days together at home and my bf left with the most cookies from my Grammy (much to my Dad's dismay) and more of my heart than he can know. Might be slow on understanding this, but here's what I figure - I give 1/2 of me and you give me 1/2 of you, as long as we promise to make each other whole whenever we're together what more can a girl ask for?

What's for dinner?... neck bones and sauerkraut!

I really don't like neck bones or sauerkraut BUT wouldn't you know, that's what my Grammy made the first night I was home! I have this love for the South (with a capital S) that I just can't explain. What's even more uncanny is that my niece has picked up a slight southern twang and hasn't step one foot in the South. It's something cultural, certainly a way of life.

I have been know to say things like "dag, aw shucks now... etc" when I'm excited. However, I would like to make clear that I do not use such phrases as "righbackround 'dere" or "this is smaller than turtle balls" or my favorite "these gas prices are higher than a camel's booty". It's just amazing -- the warm comfort food with the abundant use of bacon grease and butter, I feel right at home.

And that makes me think, does tradition and culture make you feel at home and not the hometown itself? If these same traditions were to live in say DC, would it feel any different? OR does a best friend asking if Dennis is spelled with two Ns signify a good time at home!?
I have to say, going for a run around my old high school and tripping over familiar cracks in the sidewalk gives a sense of something that is irreplacable in a new city. So I guess my new home includes a run down riverside tripping over familiar crackHEADS and running pass horse poo in Central Park.

Don't get me wrong. I heart NY... it's by far one of the most interesting and liberating places I've ever lived. It's not the literally space that makes something feel like home, it's the people in that space. When my best friend came to visit NYC (yes the same one mentioned in the above) she feels like home to me and going out made the city feel like home. Friends and family from home are an embodiment of your past and bring out the person you are as your purest self. However, I've certainly met some people that I didn't grow up with that give me a sense of support, love and encouragement.

I'm thankful for all those that have come into my life (short term, or those here to stay). But more importantly I'm glad I've found people and blessed with the family I have that let me be myself and love me for who I am. AND they read my blog :)
Ya'll come back now ya hear... more things to say more entries to blog.