Coming
Home
“Here’s
the truth: No matter what happened…no matter where you went when you drove out
of here, no matter where you end up, no matter what happens, what you become, what
you gain, what you lose, whether you succeed or fail, stand, or fall, no matter
what you dip your hands into…no gone is too gone.
You
can always come home.”
Charles
Martin (Long Way Gone)
I drove
home yesterday—all eight hours of it—and left my beloved North Carolina
mountains, and my dearest cousins behind. I love all of them, but it was time
to come home. You know that feeling, right?
I was
so ready to get out of Birmingham after the long stagnation of the covid pandemic
and being shut in and shut down for two solid years. I was chomping at the bit
to go and after two weeks away, I was chomping at the bit to come home. Here
are a couple of take-aways from my journey: The mountains have changed—in some ways
for better, and in some, for worse. There’s lots of “gentrifying” and fancying
up for the tourist trade—more “cutesy” shops, more street fair atmosphere, more
traffic. The influx of new money and new blood has led to both a housing boom,
and an attempt to keep the charm of authentic mountain culture. Mostly, it has
failed. The mountains are still very conservative and most progressive thinking
is shunned. Building something new but trying to make it look old is missing
the point. Another takeaway is that while some things improve with time, some
things only get worse.
My
cousins were uniformly generous and welcoming. We had some good meals together
and played a little bit. My friend, Ron, photographed all the art I took with
me, so there will be a website soon. I had time to relax and recharge. I received
an invitation to produce some items for a funky little shop called “Bodega” in
Hickory, which gives me new inspiration and momentum. My dog, Liza, traveled
well and got along with other family pets most of the time (a new behavior for
her).
All in
all, it was a good trip. One I’ll be parsing for weeks, because, as Sandy says,
“you analyze too much—you overthink it.” Susan and I completed the questionnaire
for the enneagram and discovered that we are just as we thought, a Type 5 The
Observer with a Generous Heart (me), and a Type 9 The Peacemaker with an Alive
Heart, (Susan). We are opposite in terms of our basic nature, but both of us
have strong scores in the 8 category; we are assertive but tender hearted. (Heart
of the Enneagram, Sandra Smith and Christopher Copeland, Library Partners
Press, 2018) We also have some seriously negative traits, like avarice,
self-protectiveness, and slovenliness. I won’t go into those!
Here is a quote from Mark
Nepo that just about sums up my trip: “Unconditional love is not so much
about how we receive and endure each other as it is about the deep vow to never
under any conditions stop bringing forward the flawed truth of who we are to
each other.” Mostly, I feel love and gratitude.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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