BOOMERS ON THE MOVE TO SOMEWHERE ELSE

Why Not To The Hometown?

via ew.com

No one likes hearing classmate at a reunion say, “So glad I got out of here.”

Hear it once and you want them out of there again.

Hometowns aren’t prison to escape from. If you feel that way, it’s you, not the town.

Maybe when we were in our late teens, or early twenties, it made more sense?

No, and here’s why:

Small towns in Oregon find ways to turn into important places, am I right Hood River?

You might come from a town that smells like a skunk dump at low tide, but it’s still Oregon, not Idaho. Anything smelling like a skunk dump there is a skunk dump, not a bay side mudflat roasting in the sun.

Come from a town so backward it gave up it’s only landmark, a tower of blue schist with a restaurant on top, to become a jetty? Then you go back to find it re-invented as a world-class golfers’ destination. Way to go, Bandon.

We move on and think we’ve moved up. It’s not the same thing. Somewhere in the human brain we carry our hometown, we seek it out wherever we go.

Growing up small town Oregon put a good spin on the parts of the world I’ve seen.

Where would North Bend fit in Philadelphia? In Brooklyn? I found glimpses when I lived there and didn’t realize it.

Tooling around London and Barcelona revealed more Bulldog than expected.

The people I feel for are the big time, big city, people who can’t quite get over not living in their city that never sleeps.

They’ve got enough energy stored up to power a sub-station, but choose other outlets. You find them volunteering in schools, running rec-league sports, and explaining how great their city is after a few cocktails.

Anyone listening has to wonder why they haven’t moved back. But they won’t. Not if they live in Oregon.

A friend from the south said anyone from a town as small North Bend would be a hillbilly where he came from. I said everyone in the nation thinks where he’s from are all hillbillies. We had a good laugh, but I still kept an eye on him.

Being a homer isn’t the same as being a booster. The homer doesn’t need to boost; the booster couldn’t find home if he was standing in the door.

Homers know their place, as in the land they live on. Boosters are usually in between sales pitches.

When boomers move, hope they fit into the new landscape as homers.

Where would you move?