We're back from Maryland and Virginia, and before I continue I just have to say that traveling with this little girl is a lot of fun. Exhausting yes, but she is so dang cute! I am hoping to post picture updates soon, but be sure to look for the one with her pulling her bag. She loves her bag.
All that aside, the trip was actually more difficult for me than I expected. I really miss Maryland. I knew I missed my job, but I was surprised by the fact that it went beyond that. We stopped by all the places that meant something to us. There's the condo we lived in when we started dating. There's the coffee shop we used to go to just about every weekend. There's the cute town that we knew so well. There's the most beautiful church either of us have ever accidentally came across. There's the first house we bought together and gutted to make it brand new. There's the hospital that Ellie was born in. Let's go back to the house and see the window to her nursery. This is the route we used to take for our evening walks. It just kept going.
Then there were the things I've never noticed before. Why didn't I notice that really cool stone church up on that hill? Check out that old building, it may look hundreds of years old, but I swear they JUST put that there. And there's now a Chick-Fil-A next to where we used to work.
It was hard on us. I was surprised. In many ways Maryland feels more like home to us than Colorado, which seems backwards to me. I guess it's because we have so many beginnings there, and we haven't been back long enough to really establish many beginnings here.
That's not to say that we think we made the wrong decision. I think we both feel like it was the right one to make. But it definitely isn't a black-and-white question, is it?
I guess we'll just have to hope that as time goes on, Colorado will have more and more beginnings associated with it. After all, this is where Ellie started to walk, right? And it will be where the next baby is born, right? And we own our first single family home, and though we haven't fixed it up yet... that's bound to happen eventually, right?
I don't know why the trip took me by surprise. I knew that Maryland would always mean a lot to us. I guess I was just reminded of all the things I liked better there (and there are many).
It's a good thing the snow here today is so pretty. =)
3 comments:
I've always thought that the experience of living in different places is both fantastic and sad. We grow roots wherever we are, I guess it's a part of human nature. You'll always miss what you left behind, even though new adventures await.
I got nostalgic reading your post, will try to appreciate Maryland a little more on my ride home tonight... :)
Yes you should. Here are some, but not necessarily all, of the things I like better about MD than CO. I won't bother with the list I like better about CO, but just know it definitely exists.
- APL
- Trees!
- Rolling terrain.
- Spring time blossoms.
- Highways are lined with daffodils and wildflowers in the spring time.
- Old towns, especially Ellicott City.
- Old town clocks.
- Old churches.
- Stone buildings.
- Small old graveyards located in random locations (ever seen the one off of Snowden and 175? It's hidden in trees off to the side of the parking lot. And the one that's located in the middle of a neighborhood off of St. John's Lane, that looks like a little private park with wildflowers)
- Differing architecture of row-houses.
- Candles in the windows for the holidays.
- White Christmas lights (mostly colored here, which may be prettier but is less classy).
- Free museums.
- More Chick-Fil-As.
- Crepe cafe in Ellicott City.
- Bakeries.
- Glen Echo dancing!
- Everyone drives at speeds HIGHER than the speed limit.
The more I think about it, the more I think you should definitely check out the little hidden cemeteries if you've never seen them before. I can think of 3 or 4 in the Columbia / Ellicott City area if you want to know more info. The one off of St Johns is so pretty. It's really small (just a plot of land like a normal house) but so pretty in the spring time. There are a lot of little pathways and benches. I love old cemeteries (not the big kinds with rows upon rows of plots) because I love thinking about the type of life an individual might have had. Especially if you can barely make out what the tombstone says. Enough. Email me if you want to know how to get to my favorite ones.
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