I’ll bet you love your hometown, dontcha? Even if you’re one of those types that moved away from your hometown specifically because, most likely in your teens or twenties, you managed to solidify some sort of boredom or even abhorrence of that setting, you still love it. Your hometown is like a part of your family. Maybe its the crazy, wild aunt who is fun but parties a wee bit too much or it could be that grandparent who may be a little boring but has the coolest stories. There are things about them that you love about each one of them, and a few things that are harder to find as endearing. Well, maybe I’m being presumptuous about your feelings, but I definitely love my hometown.
I didn’t realize just how much I loved this place until I came back home for the holidays. Admittedly, I was fairly road-weary by the time I got here. Spencer and I both were, but he has always loved his home-town to a degree that is hard to match. He’s always happy to be home. Me, home, and my hometown, we all have history and its complicated. These relationships haven’t always been great, but I am returning with adult eyes and I can see a bit more clearly the beauty and magic here. It’s as if I had to go see a little of the world outside my backyard to realize just like Dorothy that there really is “no place like home.”
It’s not La Vie en Rose – by far – but, I wouldn’t really want it to be that way. That’s a fantasy.
What I discovered is the beautiful history of this city; its stunning examples of Greek & Roman revival architecture-styles, among many others and other unique/amazing aesthetic features like the “Alley of Oaks” on Old Government St. It’s not just the more obvious and somewhat superficial things either, for the first time I am also able to appreciate the charm of my fellow Southern ladies and gents – one you can hear like a melody in their dulcet tones . Even the more complex parts, though I admit I haven’t quite learned to love them, I am able to respect them. I am able to hope for their fulfillment of what potential I believe that I can see in them.
I see Mobile as beautiful in this season and perhaps even more so in the seasons to come.
This isn’t going to be a countdown post of “Top Ten’s” for Mobile, even though you know I thought about it – y’all know I love a list – but I decided instead to introduce you to this family member of mine and show you a little more of myself as well.
If you even get a chance, Mobile is a wonderful city to visit and slow down a bit. You can have fun, see beauty, find exciting nightlife, art and all the other things that would make you want to visit. You’ll probably fall in love, but you “ain’t never” gonna love this town like me!