The beau and I spent a long weekend in southwest Ohio, or what I like to call “home.”
I was born about an hour south of Chicago, and my family moved to a Cinci suburb when I was in fifth grade. While I was off in college in the other corner of the state, they up and moved back to Illinois. When I graduated, I worked in Illinois for three years before heading to Indiana, where I currently live.
Despite all the moves, all the states, the jobs, the people … southwest Ohio is my home. When I visit, I get a feeling that can only be described as giddy. The views, the streets, the simple geography is in my veins.
For the first time in our 2 1/2-year relationship, I got to bring Jeff “home.” I got to show him where I went to high school. He got to meet my bestie’s family. We were the attached-at-the-hip type, so when her parents told me I’m welcome at their lake house any time, even if their daughter is not there, I know they’re not lying.
The bestie and the beau right after they jumped off the pontoon. I stayed put.
He also got to meet The Second Family, the crew I started babysitting for when I was 12 who have become so much more than that. (Does everyone have a Second Family? In my experience, most do, so I hope this relationship makes sense beyond “Those people I used to babysit for.”)
On the trip, I watched my fiance and my best friend jump off a pontoon boat and swim back to shore (see above — I really adore that pic). I watched him chat with the fellow whose children took up pretty much every Saturday night during junior high and high school. I drove him past the house I grew up in and pointed to a giant tree towering over the house. My brother gave that tree to my mom as a mother’s day gift when it was nothing more than a twig in a Styrofoam cup.
I got a little paparazzi with my old house. That’s the tree my brother gave to my mom for Mother’s Day. It truly was laughably small back when Dad planted it.
He got to understand why this is the place I would so, so, so love to “end up” someday, and on the drive home, I told him, “I feel like you know me better now.”
Taking my future husband home to Virginia with me (we met in North Carolina) was a watershed moment for us. I couldn’t wait to have him meet my extended family, see my uncle’s 1818 house in the Shenandoah Valley and tour some of my favorite places – all of those little spots where I felt like I had left a piece of myself behind. He loved it, and I loved showing it to him. To this day – 16 years later – taking him to see some of those same people is incredibly comfortable. They loved him from day one, as I did.
Love this. I miss Ohio so much…
This was a great post – you’ve got such a big heart that is so strongly tied to your family, your 2nd family and your “home”, and it shows in the way you write about it all.
<3 this