Home Sweet Home

A few days ago, one of my friends from home was having a goodbye dinner at the local Chili's in Smithfield. Having graduated Massachusetts Maritime Academy last spring, he was literally shipping off again for several months to the Great Lakes to work on board a ship. As I sat in the passenger seat of my boyfriend's Honda, I didn't pay attention to the road as the commute was familiar from Point Judith to Warwick where I work.

Suddenly, I realized I hadn't been past exit 2 in over a month. I began to pay attention to the way the leaves looked on the side of the highway and I appreciated the rock formations on the sides of the highway from the passenger seat the same way I had my whole life. I remembered being a little girl and only passing through that rock 'tunnel' on the way from Foster to see Santa or the Easter Bunny at the Rhode Island Mall. Other than that, my parents preferred to stay in the Northern parts of the state. And as we made our way to Smithfield, I could understand my parent's preference.

Suddenly, I was seeing the road home in a different way. It's funny how when you're away from something for long enough you begin to appreciate it more.

I gazed out the window as the birds eye view of Johnston appeared to my right, the skyscrapers of Providence just visible in the distance. I watched as my exit passed, but it didn't matter- all of this was home. I closed my eyes as we flew over the familiar bump-bump-bump of the uneven part of 295, just after the North onramp from Route 6 in Johnston. I watched the church on my left come into view and disappear- the one building so close to the highway for miles.

When the car finally slowed to take the exit and then stopped in the Chili's parking lot, I was struck by how odd it was to be there. For the past three years, I have constantly shifted my life from being home in Northern and Southern Rhode Island.
Considering the size of the state, this may not seem like a significant difference. But as I stepped out of the car I felt the difference with every sense. It looked different, it smelled different, it felt different. Differences I wouldn't have known or been able to appreciate had I not lived somewhere else.