This time of year gives me a feeling of nostalgia. I think back to my short time when living in Boston and what an amazing experience it was for me. When i first moved there I got pretty homesick. I didn't really know anyone there and life was just so different in New England then it was in Cleveland, Ohio. I kept to myself quite a bit and just felt lonely. Well after a few weeks I told myself I needed to embrace what was such a wonderful new place with so much to experience in it and go out and enjoy life!
My very first excursion was a road trip to Walden Pond. I read a lot of Thoreau while in college and realized he was a perfect book to turn back to at this point in my life. He wrote a lot about nature, solitude and learning how to enjoy being a alone. The pond was just as beautiful as I had hoped. I brought my book along and decided to hike a bit, then find a nice place to read a while. A few passages stuck out for me and I want to share then with you guys.
"We are sometimes made aware of a kindness long passed, & realize that there have been times when our friends' thoughts of us were so pure & lofty a character that they passed over us like the winds of heaven unnoticed; when they treated us not as what we were, but as what we aspired to be." --from 'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers'
"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake" --from 'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers'
"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life" --from 'Walden'
From this point forward I did just that: live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. Sure I was lonely now and then, but I also grew as a person. I became my own best friend and enjoyed exploring my new home. Now after being away from Boston for 4 years now, a little sadness comes over me when I think of it. Not a ho-hum type of sadness, but the sadness like the loss of a friend. I know that I truly made a home for myself there and I very much look forward to when I can visit again.
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