Traveling in your old Home

Home is great friends

Travel takes you far, but sometimes home take just as far. Home and travel are usually two very separate things. Home is considered constant, comfortable, and the benchmark of all other things (consider the overuse of the phrase “oh, this feels like home”). Travel, on the other hand, is the contrary—unstable, uncomfortable and usually evokes emotions that are the exact opposite of “feeling like home”. The strange thing about life, is that in many cases (including my own) home becomes pluralized and we are no longer talking about one place over our lifetimes. We have many different places we have (and will) consider home. So, for some of us, if home truly is everchanging, what happens when somewhere you used to call home becomes an opportunity to travel?

Best friends Scott and Maggie in my first home, Chicago (we were 16, ignore the clothing)

I’ve often wondered what makes certain people so eager and willing to just pack up and leave home in search of a new opportunity or a new life adventure vs. others that are less willing and much more uncomfortable with the idea. Do those that leave home, never get that sense of true home back because they are constantly moving? Or, do those that stay limit themselves from learning from somewhere else? I’m pretty certain there is no right or wrong answer here, because we could list countless pros/cons to both approaches. The bigger, more important fact is that more and more of the people I know have multiple homes and we are now living in a world where traveling to our old homes is pretty standard. Traveling and Home have meshed.



This past weekend I went back to one of my most loved “old homes”, Cincinnati, OH. If you aren’t from Cincinnati, most people don’t think about Cincinnati. Period, let alone the idea of living in Cincinnati. It fact, the idea of living there usually makes the average person shudder with fear. It usually isn’t on anyone’s life bucket list of “must see” places and certainly doesn’t have the same appeal as other travel-worthy US cities like Boston, Chicago, New York, etc. This lack of obvious appeal is the exact reason why I love to travel back so often. When I travel there it isn’t about seeing the “sights” or letting the location and its “stuff” fill my time up, but instead it is about getting an opportunity to experience my life in this place again. Remembering what an old home feels like now that you have moved on to a new one. Visiting an old home is less about seeing things, but more about discoveringyour emotions with that place, your relationships with the people in that place, and your experiences with that place which have stayed the same and yet changed dramatically all at the same time.

Here are some highlights from my trip to the Nati:

My favorite running group in my favorite Cincinnati-area Marathon- Air Force Marathon

"Traveling" to my favorite running routes. It is always funny when you take something that was such a part of your daily routine and make it a treat. Running is like that for me in Cincinnati now that I no longer live there. Cincinnati is where I really learned to love running and made it a part of my daily life. I started training with the Running Spot, I learned to appreciate running with a group, and I created a lot of great memories with a lot of great friends. In Cincinnati, I had my favorite running routes and I would switch them around in my daily routine. When I return (like this weekend), I pick out my favorite running routes and run them again. This time they aren't the daily grind, but instead a treat! Of all the routes in Cincinnati, there is one that has a special place in my heart-- "The Alm's Park Run". I love it because I discovered the route by accident one day by getting lost. When I lived in Cincinnati, the run was usually always done alone and it was the best 6.3 miles of detox possible. I'd run it in the heat, the snow, the rain, anything. It is an extremely hilly and hard run, but I love it.  So, for this trip as soon as I flew into the city, I went to my favorite coffee shop and changed in the bathroom to get ready for my run. No checking into the hotel, no nothing. This was the first thing that I possibly wanted to do in Cincinnati. During this run, I got to run with my good friend Annette. It was typical Cincinnati hot and humid and I realized a couple things about myself. First, Cincinnati running is way harder than in Boston (the hills just aren't there in Boston). Second, life in Cincinnati is just beautiful and easy. Third, my 1 month off of heavy training after my last marathon has gotten me terribly out of shape! If you want to ever follow my Alms Park Run, click on the link!

Jaizelle, Erika, Jeff, and Ben. Some of my favorites from the Nati

Seeing great friends in new places. When you think of home and your friends from home you have specific memories of places you would go together. These places and people are ingrained in your memory together. What is always fun about traveling to your old home, is that you realize that those people have found new places to go and as a traveler you can now explore something new with them. This weekend, I went to brunch with some friends after a very hot and humid 5K race at a restaurant that wasn't even around when I lived there: Green Dog Cafe. It was simply put, a party in my mouth. Here I was in a town so familiar to me, with friends so familiar, but in a completely new experience. I encourage everyone to do the same thing next time you are home. Pick something so familiar to you and mesh it with something completely new. You'll see your home in a new and expanded light.

Emily's beautiful wedding 6 years after we all met

Home Changes. One of the things that this trip taught me most outright is that the idea of home as being a being a constant, is just not true. We are told to expect this, but there are things about home that will change and evolve. If you aren't prepared for this, you will be frightened by the reality. The biggest example of this is the purpose of my trip in the first place-- a friend's wedding. Here was a friend that I met when I was 22, fresh out of College and just new to Cincinnati. My memories of Cincinnati included her and me at a specific point in our lives, yet here we were back in Cincinnati but in totally different life stages. I'll always have those memories of her and I at that age in Cincinnati. But, what is so great about traveling "home" is that you can experience home in a new light. I know I'll always be friends with my friends in Cincinnati and I know lives will change and move,  but no matter we will have one thing in common-- we had considered the same place home at one point. Even if it isn't the only place we consider home.

When homes collide. Annette from the Nati and Maggie