Living Away

I was thinking about my mom today, living so far away in Virginia.

When I talk to her, she seems lonely. Not unhappy-lonely necessarily, but adrift.

I understand, of course, because 13 years ago I moved away to Chicago, far from anyone I knew, to find out who I was beyond the ties that bind.

The answer?

Still myself. Still the same anxieties, the same strengths.

We live in a periapetic society, where we are told to discover ourselves on the road. But maybe the answers aren't on the road at all--but in our own communities and our own families.

Comments

[Mirandala]

If it isn't in your own backyard...? :)

[Jay]

exacto mundo.

as my brother used to say.

actually, I think I'm going to expand this into this week's column....was just reading an old New Yorker article on Obama, and he basically makes the same point. Though more eloquently.