HOME

I've recently left New York for summer. Coming home is always a weird adventure. For those of you who don't already know me I'm from Stonington Ct. a beautiful and historic coastal town in the South East corner of the state. It's most famous for tourist attractions like the New England Aquarium and Mystic Seaport as well as the nearby Casinos. Not to mention it's the setting of the 80's Julia Robert's flix Mystic Pizza. I've never actually seen the movie and don't care to, but I have eaten at the restaurant and even though I was completed stoned I could still tell it was probably the most disgusting pizza I will ever taste.

In any case, I'm home and I find myself constantly moving about like a shifty opossum slightly confused and always trying to avoid people's parents. It's easy to avoid high school classmates or acquaintances because they're young and insecure. It's easier to look down for two minutes while someone walks by or pretend you're really interested in the calorie count on a box of cookies than to have an awkward meet and greet. However people's parents have no shame. They're old so they have no qualms about walking right up to you as if you were still 14 and ask you all kinds of questions as to what you're doing with your life. I want to look at them and say if I had the answer do you think we'd be talking right now? 

The one nice thing about going home is well most things are free. Rent, Free. Food, Free. Books seemingly free but there was a price to pay. One of my friends suggested I join the library. I've grown accustomed to buying books. During my time in New York I dared not step foot in the library it was far too big to actually be useful. I couldn't even master the Boston public library and that was a third the size. However here in Stonington the library is quaint and charming. I can vaguely recall spending a couple of summer in the children's section making crafts and pretending to read. I figured how bad could it be? I love to read, so I will join the library. 

Not two steps into my visit and I'm greeted by a high school classmates overwhelming mother. She of course asked a number of questions about why I was home and what happened to my job. This was clearly an interrogation where she was trying to put together mental facts to prove her son was better than I was. Nevertheless, I answered her questions to the best of my ability trying to explain I was working as a contractor in the city and when my contract ended I decided to get out of the city for the summer. Although she never seemed to grasp what I was saying I tried to keep it breezy in an effort to move the conversation along. When she told me her own son had recently been laid off I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction.  After the initial interrogation she made some off putting comments about how parents think it's nice to have their children move home until they are actually there at which point they realize the whole thing was some horrible mistake. I was at a loss in trying to respond to these comments but things didn't stop there. 

It was then when she announced she was going tell an embarrassing story about me. I've grown up with her son and I am sure there are a number of things she could have brought up. Just in case you'd forgotten this all took place in the entry to a library which by definition is not a place of talking. Nevertheless, I was actually kind of excited that she would share some funny middle school memory and we'd all have a good laugh. Instead she told a story about how when I was three I was at a reading group with my mom she was in one room and I in the other. Half way through group time I burst into the "mothers" room because I wanted my mom. Personally, I don't think there's anything embarrassing about a three year old wanting their mother. Had the same thing happened when I was 11 then fine, but this story had no punch line and was a huge let down. The weirdest part was she told the story to another women who was working at the library who clearly had no idea who I was.

Needless to say I won’t be checking out any books anytime soon and will continue to waste my money buying paper backs at target.