The Unfamilar Familiar

Being back in Utah has been interesting.

I love being close to family and some close friends and things that I grew up around. I love that I know my way around and that I remember so much of it.

I love the familiar smell that seems to roll down the mountain, and the way the morning sun peeks over the mountain tops before the day has started.

I really do love the crazy weather. I love seeing the bright blue sky in the morning and being taken off guard in the afternoon when it starts snowing.... even in May. It's a surprise but one that is usually expected at least once a year.

The familiarity of the news anchors, even after 6 years they are still the same. It's like coming home to family.

And the buildings and business that after a decade still stand in the same spot serving a new generation.

It's funny to see some of the same billboards that grace the freeway. The ones that I remember when I was a kid. There is one with a boat going through it. It was always a reminder that we were almost close to grandma's house.

All the roads are familiar, and driving is easy. The learning curve is small... it's easy to get to places because the way the roads are marked.

But it's also so different.

The skyline has change as new buildings have been put up,and the orange cones that graced the freeway have moved south with the construction that is to be done there.

It's weird seeing the houses going up the mountains, I didn't think I would ever see houses on some of these mountains. And boy are those houses BIG!! And seeing new neighborhoods where the orchards once stood kinda makes me sad.

The trees have grown along with the families and kids of the street where we use to play. Bushes have been pulled up and houses have been painted.

Driving around and while the roads are familiar the stores that have been built are all different. The dairy farm that was along a main road has long been torn down and in it's place a small strip mall.

The people are different too. Different in the fact that they too have grown... had kids...moved on.

Many of the sighs are still the same and bring a sense of comfort, it's like coming home. And then there are the changes that are inevitable with growth of a city.

......With life too, I guess.

I like being back home in Utah. I like the sense of being wrapped in the arms of the mountains. I like that I grew up beneath them I really didn't realize how much I missed them until I was gone. I am happy to be back in my familiar, even with all the changes that have happened and the way it has grown. It will become my new familiar and someday I'll once again look back and remember how things were.