WANTED: New hometown

With Ashley Judd narrating. That’s probably where the idea germinated from, although I think they concentrated mostly on the 16th Region tournament.

 

Their crews were all over the mountain regions (13-14-15-16) that year. My ugly mug showed up in the background of some of the video they got at that undersized-looking empty gym in that clip (it was undersized, by a lot.)

 

And the markets formerly known as Ukrop's, whose name eludes me. My friends from college who stayed there absolutely love the area.

 

20 plus years ago

 

Martin’s, but its parent merged with Food Lion so they sold some of the old Ukrop’s to Publix and closed the rest.

 

I think the one at the Village Shopping Center at Three Chopt and Patterson is now a Publix.

 

Some people were born and grew up in the same place, and their family still lives there. My three closest cousins all live within 15 miles of each other around Frederick, Maryland. I totally understand that that's "home." I also have good friends who can't imagine how many times I've loaded up a car, U-Haul or moving van with my crap.

But I've been nomadic for my entire life, such so that I've told Gwen I think I have "circles of influence" rather than hometowns.

I can stand in the cemetery where my paternal grandparents and great-grandparents are buried and see the hospital where I was born. But I haven't lived in Michigan since I was 2, even though Detroit is technically where my family was "from" and that's where we went on vacations. In addition, if my mother and I go to a little church cemetery northwest of Durham, Ontario, that makes five generations in the same place on that side, counting from when Abraham Cook and his son came over from Ireland to Canada in 1860.

So I'm a fourth-generation Detroiter but only a second-generation American, depending on the branches of the tree.

My parents have been in Florida for the past 40 years, 30 of those in the Melbourne area. I know the streets and towns like the back of my hand, because I worked in radio there and have wintered there in the motorhome. But that's not home, either.

Gwen and I went to high school together in the Bay Area, and the majority of her family still lives near there, but again, that's not really a hometown. We've changed and it has, too.

We've been in Georgia since 2001. And in the cabin since 2006. We're home, until we decide home is somewhere else. We have no children and our wishes are to be cremated. Ashes to ashes, etc.

 

I guess my take on this is similar to Armistead Maupin's delineation of biological families versus logical families. Being from a place doesn't necessarily mean you feel welcome there or have any meaningful connection. I am "from" a village of 800 people in central Nebraska, but it's been decades since I set foot there and if I went back I would all but be a complete stranger. Meanwhile, there are places where I didn't grow up but still feel far more like "home" thanks to the friends and ties I have there.

I don't know that I can put a neat bow on the idea like Maupin did, though. Maybe something like your notional hometown versus your emotional hometown.

 

Gotcha. I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone trying their hand at being an expat, and the UK has a shortage of talent in many fields these days. You know your needs best, of course, but we're always ready to welcome another member into the SJers Abroad delegation.

 

Correct. Nearly all of the old Martins were bought by Publix. A couple were left to rot, including the one over by the Kohl's and Target in Midlothian. You can still buy Ukrops bakery and deli items from Publix and Kroger and a new Ukrops food hall not far from that shopping center you referenced.

 

L.A. isn't without its charms.

4:26 was for the 3rd.

This Friday, candles will be lit at 4:27.