Dear Ol' UVA...

I needed some time to compile my thoughts and comments from my recent Homecoming visit to UVa - so for those of you who were looking for it. Here it is.
Homecoming weekend at Uva... Driving down I-95 onto Alderman, guided by the giant V and two sabers inked into the road we entered a place we called home for four years. It felt as though we entered a bubble. It was a cultural capsule where it seemed nothing had changed and yet coming from out of town, there was a solemn cloud that followed us, a gentle reminder that this wasn't the real world. It's clear after being in the workplace for two years, UVa was a utopia. You don't really have to deal with adult issues, all of the rent/utilities/billing were spoon fed to you, none of your interactions were multi-level (i.e. work relationships), people can wear cowboy boots and dresses and it's more of a dress code than a fashion faux-pas; oh and singing the Good Ol' Song made everyone feel like one happy community. No wonder we feel duped...I'm not the only person that looked blankly at a fax machine or another esoteric office tool and thought: why didn't I take a class for this? That's what we need a "Real Life 101" that teaches you how to: deal with taxes, office politics, weird roommates, missing landlords, rental agreements, real crime that can't be solved with the honor code... and the list goes on.
I can't decide if the shielding of the real world from the current Wahoos is just an extension of their childhood or the set up for the first of many rude awakenings they will experience in adulthood. For example: at UVa you can feasibly, work, party, study, eat healthy, stay fit, and get enough sleep to do it all again the next day. Guess what? In the real world the routine is sacrificed for things that are considered survival tactics - eating whatever you can find, sleeping when you can, and working for food and shelter. When we were on the Range before the football game, you could still see the flicker of innocence in the eyes of the undergrads, an age of believing and where ignorance is bliss.
It was a great weekend, but returning to grounds and looking at versions of myself pre-real world, was bittersweet. On one hand UVa is now a place we can never go back to without bringing in bias, on the other hand it was a nice reset button to know that in a world that is constantly changing there are some consistencies.

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.