I suppose I could have written a rant about my neighbors' congregating on the sidewalks every day. As you'll see, however, it's all become irrelevant.
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Leaving Home
So, how do you say a proper farewell to a state you’ve lived in for almost your entire life?
I’m Louisianan by birth, but consider myself a native Marylander. Mom moved here when she was assigned to a new post in the early 1980’s, and I came along with her. My sister was born here. We’ve lived most of the time in this state within the radius of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area—even as my grandmother on my stepfather’s side insisted we lived in Baltimore. I attended school here. I worked here. I lived, loved and lost, here. This place, the seventh state admitted to the Union in 1788, where our National Anthem was written, is my home.
Now, after almost 28 years, I will be leaving home. All that I’ve ever known, I leave behind as of next week.
I suppose I came to this decision a couple years ago, maybe a bit before then, that I had to go elsewhere to start getting things in motion. Besides family, I haven’t many other connections or friends here. Things started going south—figuratively—in 2006, when I was laid off from a job making modest, but livable, wage. I lost another when I found out I had no driving privilege. It’s been dead ever since.
Those who follow IVH regularly know my personal struggles at home in the last year, and how those have apparently cycled back. A couple weeks ago, I spoke to mom about it, and she told me it was nothing more than just talk. I don’t know if I believe that, but I suppose it is of no consequence now. I’m going to my own place, as my sister did last year, and have been given a chance at a new start. Those battles are no longer mine to fight.
What’s ahead? I’m not certain. I have to get used to a new routine, new transit system, new favorite place to eat (Waffle House, definitely in rotation), new ordinances, everything. And I leave Maryland with much consternation, as it is the only place I’ve known, and loved. How can you not love a place with access to such history, food, and sports? How can you not love a place where if you drive one direction for two hours, you could be in the mountains, or on the Atlantic Shore? I grew up with the Orioles, Redskins. Terps and Wizards (nee Bullets). When the Ravens and Nationals came to town, I adopted them too. The best times, the worst times of my life were right here in this state.
How could I not love this place?
So, tonight, as I prepare to take what little of the belongings and clothes I have on the biggest journey thus far in my life, I will be saddened by the prospect that I won’t be around the place I love anymore on a regular basis. I wish it didn’t have to be this way. However, as this chapter closes, the next one awaits. I hope the City of Charlotte affords to me new opportunities, new experiences and a greater sense of peace to my life. I don’t know if I’ll stay the rest of my life there, or a portion of it, but here will begin the next chapter, indeed.
Yet a piece of me remains here, for always. Should fortune bring me back here again, I shall return. If not, I understand. But for the roads I will travel, now and in the future, I will never forget where “home” is.
Goodbye for now, dear Maryland. May you stay “America in Miniature.”
CraigyFerg has Ted Danson and Kevin Pollak on the show tonight.
Here's some fun:
America Ferrera
Dan Riskin