Quiet Dreams: Where is home?

That has been a fairly common question put to me over the course of my years with the park service. Two women asked me that and I found myself on their travel blog. They made a note that I wouldn’t tell them. Most people from a rural area will hem and haw over their home.

“Well, it’s in this area, most people there haven’t even heard of it. Well, it’s in this county, the nearest town is such and such.”

It’s true that a lot of people in the nearest town have no idea where I live. It’s been a source of contention for me over the years. It stopped feeling like home for a long time and I felt like a vagabond.

Pack and move, pack and move.

This crumbling trailer has been my base of operations, as it were, but only recently started to feel like home again. My first two parks were only a few hours away, so there wasn’t a real disconnect. When I began to work seasonally in West Virginia, though, the loss of a stable home life really began to hurt. I was always worried that something would happen while I was so far away. I needed something to ground me and my living situation there was alright for part of my duration. I don’t know, there was drama at times that I don’t want to get into here, at least not yet. But, being an introvert, home is a sanctuary from the exhaustion of people.

Now? I have the chance of putting down roots. The prospect of getting out of this trailer and into my grandparent’s house is a dream come true. Apologies to my niece, but that will always be their home. Maybe one day she’ll let me buy her out for it. That’s not a topic I am ready to broach yet. I turn 43 in a few more weeks and the thought of staying in this little town the rest of my life sounds so good. I’ll feel better when I get the final resolution to the conditional part of my employment offer. Until then, all these hopes and wishes are cautionary dreams.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you visit again. Until then, take care my friends.