Friday, August 26, 2011

Summers Past

This concept of normalcy; I've often wondered if it exists. At university everybody seems to eschew it in favour of finding his or her own path, but I think overall everybody is just a little off. I'm not here to get into a philosophical debate (trust me, I'd lose). Sometimes I just think that even in this little micro-universe I'm not exactly "normal," whatever that means. Who's ever heard of environmentalist theatre major whose obsession with Springsteen led to a love of 1970s muscle cars? What kind of theatre student loves the stereotypical guy thing.

This whole post is a little more personal than I like to get on this blog. It's also incredibly off topic, so forgive me.

I think one of the great things about university is you can explore different interests and find a niche. You're exposed to ideas that weren't necessarily part of your experience growing up. The pool of people is just that much larger. However, I've found a certain type of person which is great, but there's still that hometown girl in me. The girl who remembers struggling to scrape by in an old used car. There's a part of me that will never quite fit in in a world that's dominated by the upper middle class (which is a shame). Most people from my hometown are married with children now. They've got solid jobs and work hard. I think all day.

I'm glad I chose the path I did, but I think I'll always identify a little with the people left in my hometown. They're the people who shaped me. They're my family and my neighbours. I never really fit in there either and I wouldn't go back, but their influence is profound. Sometimes I miss that life. Running downstairs and hopping into my friend's beat up 80s camaro and driving, walking for an hour in the August heat just to get to the coffee shop with board games,dancing down at the local hall, trekking into the city for an outdoor concert that we saved for months to buy tickets too, those are the memories I'll cherish. Those high school summers defined me. I grew apart from those friends and I miss them. We're different people now, but a part of me will stay lost in those summers, the same part of me that doesn't quite fit into the university mold.

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