 Going Home Again.jpg) Posted by Christie Kelley Jul 16 2012, 11:55 pm I’m writing this on Sunday morning from my hotel room in Virginia Beach. Since I can’t get my 15-year-old out of bed yet, I thought I’d get my blog written. So, I have my coffee and my laptop and my very limited free wireless internet. It has taken me 30 minutes to get on the internet and check one email account (I have four). Sigh. We arrived yesterday afternoon and that evening we drove around. I lived down here for five years in the mid-80s and have only been back once since then. It’s amazing how much a place can change in that amount of time. There are so many new hotels that replaced older ones. I drove down a road that used to have When I lived here the area was growing so quickly that the infrastructure couldn’t keep up. It’s nice to see that schools were finally built and many of the roads widened or new ones created. It’s amazing to compare this area with my real hometown in upstate New York. While Virginia Beach has only grown an added new business and homes, my hometown has deteriorated. When I was growing up, we had a huge IBM site that employed thousands (including me as an intern in high school) and several other large companies. Now there are only a few companies and most barely employ more than a few hundred people. Poverty is rampant, crime is much higher than when I lived there, and the town just looks old and sad. I find it depressing to go back upstate. I only go because I still have family there. There is no other draw to the area. I miss the old hometown. The one that was lively and upbeat. The town where you could walk home from a high school basketball game without worrying about your safety. Well, for now I will enjoy my time at the beach and the happy memories I have from here. Have you ever returned to a town or city that you lived and found that it had changed? Tell us about it. Was it a change for the better or the worse? If you haven’t, tell us about your vacation plans for the year. Because of the spotty internet, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to check in. I may have to do it from my phone. TweetComments49 thoughts on “Going Home Again” |
   
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Is he coming to my place
Have Fun
Helen
well done Helen will be up for a cuppa… keep him warm tonight
Congrats, Helen! Have fun with him.
Helen, enjoy your time with the GR!
Hey Helen! GR time!!
Have fun with the rooster, Helen!
Christie
I only moved about 30 mins from where I grew up and since we have lost Mum I don’t get there very often but yes it has changed there as well we used to sleep with the doors unlocked and open in summer but you would never do that now there are a lot of different nationalities living in that area now and they tend not to get on so well.
As for holiday plans I have just got back from a fantastic cruise and have no immediate plans for another big holiday although I am attending the RWA conference on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland next month and I am really loking forward to catching up with some friends
Have Fun
Helen
Helen, where did you cruise to? I love cruising. Enjoy RWA! I hope you have a great time.
Christie and Jeanne
We went to a couple of ports in Fiji, Vannuatu and a lovely Island calle Mare we should have gone to more ports but bad weather stopped them but we still had a fantastic time can’t wait till we go on another one
Have Fun
Helen
Helen, I love that you cruised! I’m with Christie….I want to know where!!
Hi Christie
I have been back to where I was bought up … it was Coventry in the UK ..I moved from there to a village near Liverpool UK after I was married and then 9 years later we moved to Australia … we have been back twice in 30 years and loved catching up with everybody but the places have changed except all the old buildings …. the traffic and ring roads are too busy and even though we lived in Coventry for over 25 years we couldn’t find our way around all the new roads lol
LOL, Barb. I feel the same way down here this week. My son keep making fun of me because I said I know my way around. Some of the roads have different names or weren’t even built when I lived here. No wonder I keep putting on the GPS.
Wow, only twice in 30 years? :> Cool though that you went back at all from that far away.
I want to see both Liverpool and Coventry.
A thought-provoking post…
It wasn’t a place I lived; but a holiday place. I took about two years off from going on holidays when I got a job; simply because I was working full time and couldn’t get the time off… so when I drove down to Brunswick Heads and arrived in the small seaside town, I found that it had shrunk! Gone were the times it took so very long to get into town… instead it took only a quick 5 minute walk. Then, there were people who knew me from years before who said I hadn’t changed a bit, but found it weird that I had walked into the pub with them and ordered a bourbon and cola on the rocks…
However, the pub owner there was the only person in the history of my life who has never asked me for ID… ever! He watched me grow from a little 4 year old kid who could barely see over the bar to a young lady who was ordering booze for my friends on NYE! And he even watched on in shock as I picked a fight with 3 guys who had groped me (but then, when they found out I could take them all on at the same time, they realised they had bitten off more than they could chew… hehe).
Yeah, Brunswick Heads became smaller when I returned. However, on return trips, it’s grown a little on me… and I think it’s because it’s gotten some boutique shops and new businesses going to make the place look bigger. So, each time I return, I don’t mind that it takes more than 5 minutes to get into the town; and that the pub owner isn’t the regular one anymore (yeah the pub changed hands) it’s still the same quaint little seaside town where 22 trawlers used to chug out at 6pm through the Brunswick River Bar and come back at 4am… and now there’s only 2 trawlers. But the place still has the freshest seafood around!
Wonderful post, Mozette. I live near a seaside town in MD and I just read in the paper about how few trawlers we have left too. It’s sad to see that business go away.
The big drop in the business with the trawlers happened when it was rumoured that Seaworld thought – in its infinite wisdom – net the deep sea area just off the coast of Brunswick Heads, Byron Bay, Lennox Heads and Coffs Harbour… this meant there was a massive amount of ocean which went from having a huge array of sea life to having none in a little under a month!
And so, the trawlers – and the guys who worked on them – went out of business within around 2 years trying to find new places to fish.
We also saw some bad stuff happening in the Brunswick River too. I remember a time when the tide was so low you could walk across it and it only came up to your waist! That was amazing – if not gooey and muddy on your feet! And another time, the sewage treatment plant upriver broke down and raw sewage ran into the river for 2 hours… this made the river unfishable for 5 years; this included all the oyster farms! And that was around 20 farms or so owned by different oyster farmers! What a loss!
Then, I remember the time we were evacuated from Brunswick Heads by the SES because the area was declared a disaster zone. The Brunswick River broke its banks and we high-tailed it outa there three days early!!! My brother and I were pretty young, but I remember clearly seeing the river trying to empty itself as the tide was rushing in! Something you never forget when you’re 10.
I know, Mozette! Vacations are cool, and when you go back to something you’ve been to, it’s a kind of coming home. :>
I’ve been in that situation too, where you can’t go away or on vacay for several years. Its stressful, isn’t it?
Yeah… it is… but then, Mum sent me postcards and that was something that kept me thinking that the following year I could go there and enjoy my holiday there.
Christine, I grew up in Nashville, TN and lived there until the middle of my junior year in high school. The junior high I went to had been my parents’ high school, so it was a small, tight-knit little part of town where we lived.
I went back in 2004 for our 20-year high school reunion (even though I didn’t graduate from that high school) and it was strange. Opryland amusement park had been gone for years, but it hadn’t really sunk in since I hadn’t been there. Nashville’s suburbs have sprawled enormously and towns that used to be real outliers (like Antioch and Hermitage) are now considered suburbs. So odd!
Yes, my hometown shrunk in a way. I used to think going downtown was a real road trip, but now I realize it’s only 7 miles from the house where I grew up. How did that happen?
Also, the part of town where I grew up was sort of mixed middle class, with some bigger, nicer houses near the river and lots of little post-WW II homes between them and Gallatin Rd. It sort of hit a slump in the 80s and 90s, but had since started having a bit of a revival, which is nice to see.
Lots of local businesses closed and the generic national chains have moved in. Very little remains of what was there when I was growing up, but once I’m there a little while it still feels familiar. Especially since a lot of the people I grew up with still live there!
I am glad we got out of there before I was college age. I think I was much better off for the moves!
Ohhh, I love Nashville. :>
Caren, I didn’t know you grew up in Nashville. I guess I thought you were a Carolina girl. It’s nice to hear about cities and towns that are doing better. All though, I hate to hear about small shops and restaurants being closed and big chains replacing them. I love to go to locally owned restaurants and shops. They are far more interesting.
You know, I debated when I was last in Nashville whether it was doing better or was just different. Hard to say! It certainly is getting genericized, though. That’s a criticism I have of most places I’ve been in the last 15 years, though. There is so much of the same stuff you see everywhere that it’s hard to find something unique and local. Even in Manhattan! It’s plain wrong to be in Times Square and have a flashing neon Applebees in your face!
There does seem to be a trend (at least the places I’ve visited lately) toward smaller, locally-owned businesses. I hope that trend continues. I try hard to support local businesses and hope everyone else does the same!
Caren, I love the whole sense of cool that comes with local places. I really love to try out the local flavor wherever I go. :>
Caren, I was looking for a Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant on Urban spoon yesterday afternoon. What popped up 3 times (I’m not kidding 3 times)…Applebees! Seriously? That is not a place I would go to for Mexican or Tex-Mex. Finally found a place on the beach that was okay. But it was locally owned and not a chain.
Christie, I still live in the same hometown I grew up in but it has changed quite a bit. Many of our factories have closed as have most of the stores so it’s a different place for my kids than it was for me. But they go the same high school I went to and even have some of the same teachers. My sister teaches grade school at our old Jr. High school and quite a few of the people I graduated with are still in town.
One thing that hasn’t changed is that winter lasts at least five months *g*
Trust the weather….
Oh Beth, I don’t miss those 5 month winters. Although as hot as it’s been this summer, I’m ready for fall and winter. I do miss those cool nights up north in the summer.
I’m SO ready for fall and not just because I love Halloween and have a book coming out. Grins.
Normally, I’m not jonesing for Fall until August, but this year? Ohhhh, yeah!!
Christie – I know what you mean. I guess you really can’t go home again.
When I was in eighth grade, we moved to a new suburb of Cincinnati. Our house was right across the street from a spanking new library – all windows and light. I spent a lot of hours in that popular, busy library through my high school years.
I was invited to speak in the adjacent suburb (the suburb that surrounded my high school – which is now gone) when my first book came out. I was SO excited – though I thought it odd. When i lived there, the library across the street from my house was the only library for both communities, yet the address I was given was for a tiny storefront of a strip shopping mall.
It was pouring down rain the day I drove down. I decided to change clothes before my talk by visiting the library across from my old house. Parked there, went in – noticed a guard at the door and discovered the restrooms were locked. Ventured into the main park of the library – all the windows were shuttered. It was an operational library – but very depressing inside. No patrons were there (big surprise). It was the sort of place you run in, check out your stuff, and leave. Very, very sad and unfriendly. I asked for a key, changed, and continued to the storefront which was a new community library. It was cramped and crowded with books and had the atmosphere that I remembered from the old place.
Donna, I feel a little sad after reading your post. I hate to see libraries that are dark and unfriendly. I spent my days after school in a public library that was attached to the jr. high school. I loved that library. It’s gone now. They consolidated all libraries in town to one large one downtown. I hate that. The middle school kids can’t get down there unless a parent drives them. There were 3 libraries in walking distance when I was growing up.
Oh that’s so sad Donna that the library was so unwelcoming. I love an open welcoming library, and most of ours are like that. The 9th street DC library is SUCH a fabulous resource but I have to confess it’s depressing.
How’d your talk go? Grins.
Honey and I ( and all our sibs & children) are
Houston born and bred! Like Helen, we live
about 30 minutes from the area where we
grew up. We have had a fairly close con-
nection with the high school we attended
and go back every so often for events at
the school. On our last visit to Jeff Davis HS ,
we drove into the area where my elementary
school & the chapel where we were married
are located. We don’t have to go far to see
places that are part of our lives.
Pat C.
Pat, it’s nice that things haven’t changed that much for you.
Great post, Christie. It’s always so poignant to return to childhood homes. They seem so small and insignificant compared to the scenes in your memories.
I’ve taken several tours of my childhood homes in Virginia and even my college days apartments. The current reality is never as bright and shiny and what your younger mind remembers.
It does seem that way, Jo. But unfortunately, it is reality in my hometown. It doesn’t help that in the past 10 years they have had 2 major floods. The last one was the worst and destroyed so many homes.
Awww, so sorry, Christie. Sometimes smaller towns especially never recover from those kinds of natural disasters.
Hey Christie!!
I’ve been back to my hometown in NC any number of times, but would never live there again. It’s a dying town, alas. Things are boarded up and really just sad. Sigh.
My sort-of adopted home town of Asheville, NC and my other “home town” of Durham, NC are both booming, however. :> Lots of changes there and fun new things to see and do.
I hear ya Jeanne. I wouldn’t move back to the town I grew up. Although, the house prices are a lot cheaper than where we both live
I’ve never been to Ashville but would love to go!
I was born in Austin,Texas but we moved awy in 1985 to a smaller toen about 75 miles north. Now from time to time,my husband takes me back to Austin and it has gotten so big I don’t even recognize it now.
Gail, I’ve heard Austin has gotten so large. I’ve never been there but I’d love to see the city sometime.
I live in the town where I grew up. It’s changed a lot. My old elementary school is now apartments for seniors, the country roads on which I learned to drive are busy thoroughfares, and my great-aunt’s house is under a lake now. But my high school is still here–just four times larger than it was when I was a student, the DQ is still in the same place and the cones taste the same, and the church I attended throughout my childhood still has homecoming with dinner on the ground every fall. Quite a number of my cousins and classmates still live here, and many others return for annual visits. People don’t leave their doors unlocked now, and they don’t let children play from after breakfast until dusk with the freedom we had. But there’s still the same sense of connection. When I go to the grocery store, the manager is a former student, as is the new principal at the oldest grand’s middle school, and my doctor’s nurse practioner is the daughter of an old friend.
Janga, it sounds like a nice place. All towns change but at least it doesn’t sound like the deterioration in my town.
I’m only about 25 minutes or so away from where I grew up. Unfortunately, it’s gone downhill in the past years and always makes me sad when I make a point of going down our old street.
catslady, I totally understand that feeling.
My hometown has changed a lot, and I almost never go back now. And some parts of the change, really, may just be me. I’ve changed.
Don’t get me wrong…there are new stores and restaurants, a new shopping complex out away from town, so there ARE actual changes aplenty. But I think I’ve changed more than the town, and I think Donna is correct. I couldn’t go back to live there now, so there is certainly some truth to “you can’t go home again.”
Cassondra, I so agree with you. What amazes me is my family who still think it’s such a great place.
Christie, my hometown was a college town with a couple or three manufacturing plants. The population was about 1200 when the students were away, twice that when they were there. Now it’s a bedroom community, population about 7000, most if them commuters. It’s kind of depressing to be there and see the difference.
I hope you enjoy the beach. We aren’t going to get there this summer.
Thank, Nancy. We’re having fun. My son was able to see two navy seal teams getting ready for training exercises while the jets from NAS Oceana were flying overhead. He thought it that was great. Tomorrow is the battleship Wisconsin and a tour of Portsmouth harbor.
I could get into all of that!