The Countdown to New England

Moving to Virginia has taught me a lot. It has taught me about caring for the land, growing vegetables, and nursing chickens back to health. There have been lessons on being vulnerable and more aware. The mountains have shown me a new definition of beauty and awe.

My roommate, Jenna, and I had a conversation one twilight a few weeks back spurred by the question: how do you choose a place to build your life? Jenna is 28 and I think feeling the ache of building a life of her own especially now that she has found a partner in our wonderful friend Trevor. Much of our conversation revolved around having enough land to grow a substantial amount of food on, if just for our families, but also being close enough to our mothers, fathers, and sisters. And for Jenna, she said that she would also like to be near mountains. Maybe she is a Bilbo at heart, "I want to see mountains again, mountains, Gandalf!  And then find somewhere quiet where I can finish my book." Except "start a life" instead of the whole book thing.
But I am a Legolas. I do not remember if it was eluded to in the trilogy or later in the appendices or perhaps the Silmarillion, but it was said that if Legolas heard "the cry of the gull on the shore", he would fall too much in love with the water to return back to his forest homeland. (Well, that also could mean the grey havens, meaning he was going to die, but because Legolas never got to the sea, we shall never know what was meant by these words).
Either way, I am a water child. Last summer I did not see the ocean once. It wasn't until Friendsgiving last fall that I stepped onto the sand. And I did not swim in the lake that I have been swimming in every summer since I was four years old.
Staunton is a good 4 hours from the coast and 5 hours from decent beaches. And I've decided that is too much. Wherever I settle down, it will be hopefully less than 2 hours to the coast and be close enough to a swimmable body of water that I can walk to.
But until then, I am counting down the days when I fly home for a short visit and can spend a whole day on Lake Quinsigamond with my family and friends.

I'll leave with a poem inspired by nostalgia a few nights past and a music video I just adore which has both mountains and water.