Back Home Again

Daytona Beach, Florida - the Worlds Most Famous Beach

Where is home, is a complicated question for me.  I was born in Michigan, I have lived in five states.  I own homes in two states.  I live in the mid-Atlantic,  but parts of my being are rooted firmly in the south east.  I lived in Florida for almost 20 years.  I grew to love the mossy parts, the swampy parts and the Atlantic coast.  I instantly feel at home.  I am comfortable stopping in local Florida places, despite the fact that I drive a car with northern plates, and have lost most of my southern drawl (if I work at it, I can turn it back on.)

I can read the seasons of the south, the color of the sky, the mood of the waters.  I understand southern food - cooked long and slow - the slower pace of life.  Today I return from the south that is the home to my heart, to the home I currently live in. Where I currently live in Virginia just outside of Washington DC, is a clash of cultures, it is where east coast aggression, meets southern gentility.  Far enough south to feel a little like home, and far enough north to remind me that it is someplace different.