Missing MY People

I have been thinking on this blog post for over a week now, when Al and I had a conversation over breakfast at Lyons Ferry on our way back down the Snake.  I got rather emotional, which always annoys me because it makes it even more difficult to articulate verbally what I am feeling.  But I made a few points, and Al suggested that I write a blog post about it, citing a previous post I made when we were in the Down Size mode, and I said it was kind of like dying--that process of going through all our worldly goods and deciding who should have what.

My feelings had actually been stirred the week before when we attended church in Clarkston.  Attending a Methodist church is always a BIT like coming home, the rythym, the songs, prayers all sound familiar.  The people are anxious to meet the new faces in their midst.  Everyone is friendly and wants to hear our story.  But they don't know US.

I am thinking that I am getting a little tired of having the same conversation everywhere we go.  It is fun being able to go to new places, but we just have that same conversation over and over again.  No one KNOWS me.

The feeling gelled a bit on our return trip down the Snake, and I have to thank Kate at the KOA Lyons Ferry who called 'You're back!' when she saw me at the register that afternoon.  It felt SO good to be recognized and remembered!

So I set down to tell Al about that feeling the next morning over our coffee, and then I remembered another time in my life when I experienced those feelings, I began to cry, and had difficulty speaking for a bit.

I was remembering being a newly-wed who had moved half way across the country to attend college.  I was a stranger and I was 'home-sick'.  The TV show 'Cheers' was popular at the time, and I used to cry every time I heard the theme song:

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

I think I have adjusted quite well to living on the boat, the confined space, the rocking motion.  And for the summer, even though we moved frequently, we still were within a familiar community where I could visit friends, my kids and grandkids on a weekly basis.  Facebook helps me keep up on the happenings in friends' lives, but it doesn't replace the hug and kiss of a grandchild, the smile of recognition of a friend, the words of someone who KNOWS my story already.

I wanna be where everybody knows my name.  I miss MY people.