I love talking to people about their families. I love hearing their dad's quirks, how they were tormented by their older brother or sister. I love doing schtick about my Mom and Gramma. Everyone has funny stories, when what is usually annoying becomes idealized and humorous.
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I'm going home tonight to spend some time with Mom. More time than I've spent with her all summer. I feel like going back to where I came from. Sometimes I see Ramapo and all that has happened since I came here as a seperate entity from Haledon. Haledon might as well be a million miles away from Mahwah and my experiences in it. It's he Hometown, the one square mile packed with memories, traumas, and joys.
My room is going to be hot and I'm probably going to wake up tomorrow with a stuffy nose and a headache. I wish I had a car so I could live there, sometimes. So I could be a little more rooted than I am; feel as if I have a permanent place of residence.
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I think New Year's and Birthdays are the two days when people most often look back and say "This time last year..." I'm dealing with most of the problems and am involved in most of the situations (in one degree or another) now that I was last year, but me as a person.. I'm different. I'd like to think so, at least. I'm a firm believer in people being their own worst critics and sometimes that also means judge of character/improvement, but yea, I'd like to think so. So I will. Easy as pie.
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I just looked down at my desk and there is a picture of Rajesha, Lauren, and myself. I remember asking him when his birthday was and he said he didn't know. I remember thinking how much importance my culture puts on birthdays... using them as milestones and measurements of time/progress.
At work today, Emil asked me what made the weekend different from any other day. "Why do people feel the need to take off on the weekends? What makes Saturday different from Wednesday?" I look up to this guy. He's 60 something, Haledon born, and has that To The Point, Plain As Day life philosophy that people seem to get when they grow older. That mentality that lets them say with confidence "No, you can't be in love when you're 20. Sure, I got married at 20, but it wasn't Love." And me, as a young twenty-something will always say "Well, I don't know, Emil."
Age.
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Now it's time to pack for Home. Half an hour filled with "I'll probably want to wear that." No matter how trite or trivial, it always amuses me that there are behaviors we all have which we know inside and out. A Predictability we are comfortable with.