Monday, June 04, 2007

These faces and these places are getting old...

... I'm going home

[Home, Daughtry]

I know it's one of the biggest songs in the country and has been for weeks, but this song just really struck me deeply today.

I was packing and came across a bunch of photo albums. I couldn't help but flip through each one, and basically they chronicle everything since I graduated from high school. I graduated exactly 7 years ago last Saturday... that's amazing, right? I can hardly believe how much I have grown and changed in those 7 years, and how many amazing people I have met. All of my best friends, save for two (mad love to you, Clinton and Darla!), are people who have become woven into the fabric of my life post-high school. Which is, I think, fairly common.

Another random happenstance of the day (though I actually think it was ordained) was that I recalled a song from my high school days called Westside by TQ. The basic point is that he loves the west coast, and he says, "West side til I die". So I was already on this west coast love roll, then I saw pics from my life pre-North Carolina, then I saw a paper from Institute (the TFA training that I did in Houston the summer before I began teaching in NC) that I drew all over and decorated all up while doodling that says, "West side til I die". Strangely enough, I haven't thought of that song probably since I created the paper two years ago, yet today in school I recall the song, download it from iTunes, and then come home and get nostalgic while packing and then see that paper.

Then, of course, I was really feeling the pull to the west coast, to Jason, to marriage, to the next phase of my life which will be completely distinguished and different from the last... I was seeing the faces of people I love and miss so much in photo after photo... and this song, Home, came on.

That's my favorite thing about music-- it speaks to every person where they are no matter how different their situation is from the next person. For me, home means I am drawn back to a region of the United States, more specifically, the Pacific Northwest. I never knew exactly how much I loved Washington state until I left it. Of course, I'm becoming a west sider (I always lived in the eastern half of the state) and Jason is a pretty huge draw, but I realized that while it's a bit emotional to say good-bye to my beloved roomies (I'll see Becca and hopefully Elise in September... who knows when I'll see Liz again, if ever, which is sad) and it will be REALLY hard to say good-bye to my kids (I tear up just typing it, no kidding)... the truth is that these faces and these places are getting old.

I'm ready to go home.

I'm going home
To the place where I belong
Where your love has always been enough for me
Not running from
No, I think you got me all wrong-
I don't regret this life I chose for me
But these places and these faces are getting old
I'm going home

I'm going home.