When I moved from New York to Maryland in 2001, my world was shattered. Over. Done. I was also 17.
Baltimore seemed like a suburb to me and I despised it with every fiber of my being. Maybe it was just teenage angst. Maybe it was me missing all of my friends as they finished their senior year of high school. Without me. No matter how you look at it, change is hard. This blog is called La La Lisette, after all.
I have been spending this weekend (and will be spending a good portion of this week) in Baltimore with my sister, getting to know my newborn nephew. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll see him there. He’s an absolute spunky little handful that steals your heart the moment you meet him. (He’s also a little terrorist that steals your every waking minute, but I digress). While this trip has been a long time coming, when it came down to it, I found myself very sad to go.
As I sat in the car on our way to the airport my tears betrayed me, pooling in my eyes. I was sad saying goodbye to Chip + Daisy at home, but having to say goodbye to B at the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport was another matter altogether. I’m usually the one seeing him walk away into the airport. But this time it was him seeing me walk away.
I remembered my paternal grandmother. I was never close to her, but she was one of the toughest women I’ve ever met (and one I also take after). She hardly showed emotion. But when it came to bid us farewell at the Santiago airport in the Dominican Republic after a few weeks of summer vacation, she was all tears.
It was at that moment that I relived that day in February 2012. The day when we had to part ways for six months as B started his new job in Georgia and I finished up my school year in Maryland. Why was I crying? What was I such a wreck inside? I was going to be away for less than a week.
And that’s when I knew. That’s when I knew why I was sad.
Home is where the heart is.
I never thought this Northerner would be saying this, but she is….
I left my heart in Savannah.
