I'm going home tonight, “home” as in Norwalk. “Home” as in the place that actually hasn't been my home in the last five years. However, there is the potential that I may be moving back there. While the possibility of living in Manhattan is, um, somewhat more appealing, I can't rule out that I won't be moving back to the place which I was born. It's heads or tails and the events of this weekend are going to determine where I'll call home for at least the next year. I should know by next week.
That being said, in many ways I don't feel that moving back to Norwalk would be coming home to the same place I left. While there has been new development, it's not like the area is recognizable. Far from it. It still looks the same place. What I am talking about are the people who inhabit the town. In many ways I suppose anything other than a BIG city is defined by the people who live in it. Most of the people I grew up with aren't there anymore. Most of my neighborhood as I grew up consisted of elderly people; most of them have sadly passed away or moved to Florida. A few of my friends growing up never left my street but only because they're losers and never left my street. If they're still there I don't see myself hooking up with them. I've gone a very different road compared to them since I phased them out about a decade ago, and we're very different people now. I suppose we always were, but now we don't have touch football or kill-the-carrier as a common bond anymore.
Friends I would like to see again, unfortunately, I won't necessarily be able to, as they may have left Norwalk themselves. Friends of mine are actually today moving out of Norwalk down to the D.C. area, ironically. I'm sure that of the people who didn't leave during or immediately after graduating college, there has been a slow drain away from the city, if anyone was even left. As I continued to go back there it was always rarer to see a familiar face. Still, I do know for a fact there are several friends of mine still in Norwalk. It would be fun to rekindle those old friendships and also to explorer who is still around that I'm not aware of. Perhaps I'll even meet new people, though I'm not so sure Norwalk is a draw of people my age to move into.
Although I can't meet old friends at the Wesporter Diner anymore, both because the friends and the diner are now gone, there are some old constants; I can still get that ice cream cone at Stew's. My family is there, and I'm certain old friends and acquaintances to have an occasional social outing. Norwalk will always hold memories for me. I am somewhat branded with its mark, as my biography will always read, "Born in Norwalk, graduated NHS 1999, etc." I fully understand that the crowd I left for D.C. will never all be there again, and even in some ways that's good. I've learned in the last five years who my real friends are, and I will be staying in touch with them regardless of distance in case they have moved, just as they have stayed in touch with me when I moved. I can't really be truly sad anyone has left, as I can't blame them - I myself had left. Through my travels and with the vast number of people I've met, I'm better off in that I can choose my friends based on their qualities rather than geographical convenience as I may have before I left home. So, although I may not see all the same friends I had known in Norwalk, or Washington D.C., for that matter, it's nice to know my friends are still out there. It's also nice to know that even if no one else I knew is left in Norwalk, Kobe will always be waiting for me at home.
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