memory lane...

I'd forgotten what one of the best cures for a lonely night is...a walk down memory lane with an old, dear friend. Wow...nothing cures the blues quite like reminiscing about 'the good ole days'. Unless, of course, doing so makes you even sadder, in which case, not generally a good idea. But in my case, it was just what the therapist ordered. Larry's stuck in BFE, Pennsylvania for the next 2 weeks for leadership school for the military, which means I very VERY seldom get to hear that precious voice, which also means I'm having severe withdrawals and am very lonely and blue. Enter Kendra Sue. Between telling me about her pending divorce, her crush on "the hottest guy ever" # 3,681, and the inevitable walk down memory lane, which means catching up on all the gossip and scandals of my beloved Tennessee town, I am now feeling perfectly at peace and content again. And it really helps to know that even though I've been gone from Oneida since 1999, people haven't forgotten me. People still ask about me. Didn't know I was that memorable. But then again, my time there, though way too short, has never left me either. Tennessee is my soul, it's 200 years of who I am. Someday, I will be back there. Someday, I'll never have to leave again. West Virginia is probably fine, but there's nothing like Tennessee. Nothing like the warm nights on the front porches, big family get-togethers and that Southern hospitality you can't find anywhere else but...obviously, in the South. How can someone get so attached to a PLACE? I know that it shouldn't matter where you are, it should be what you make of it...but I'm telling you, with Tennessee, it's more than that. I didn't even want to be there when I first went, but it ended up bringing me the happiest years of my life, that I have yet to equal, much less surpass. I know my life with Larry will be great and wonderful and happy, but it won't be perfect unless...UNTIL we're in Tennessee. What is it about that place that has me so...I don't know, obsessed? Is it normal, or even possible, to be in love with a place?