in the midst of a gloomy friday morning, there was this (with apologies for sharing, but it was too sweet not to):

“after clicking through pages and pages of people homesick *FOR* London rather than homesick *IN* London I found your blog, and you. Just had to reach out and say hello.

I’ve been here nearly 3 years …so it is with great empathy that I am perusing your writing and finding comfort in your “voice.”

… there’s peace to be found in the notion that we are perpetual outsiders here…the outsider has the power to change lives… we’ll somehow soldier on, because I really don’t really want to give up the challenge, my identity at my core, of being someone who lives loves works and learns in the wider world. The only people who understand what that feels like are those of us doing it.

Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping.”

How pleasantly surprising to open my inbox, wade through the spam, and find this lovely email waiting for me this morning!

So much of what you write rings true. I have been where you are, and will (I’m sure) be back there again. Autumn makes me more than a little nostalgic, and it’s hard not to linger in the feeling of “what might also have been”.

So often it’s hard to know anything about who reads what I write, and why. So it’s nice to hear there are other travellers out there on similar journeys. Trying to make our home in the world, wherever we find it…

“I have a mentor here in London, another American on the journey. He told me something that his mentor told him, so I’ll pass it on. He said:

There’s a place in the world where your soul lives, and you have to go and find it.

And noneother than Siouxsie Sioux had a lyric: where you come from isn’t always home…

I’m going to do my best to find a country walk that’s a train ride away this weekend, and breathe in some early autumn sensations.

Enjoy your Friday, and your weekend!”

…while it will never be “home” to me, London has its charms. On a good day I can even appreciate them.

I’m sorry you’re feeling homesick at the moment. Somehow each new ache is a surprising one, isn’t it? Platitudes are trite but true… “this too, shall pass.” It really does come on without warning sometimes – at the grocery store, in the afternoon light, upon waking from broken sleep…

…and then some days, you’re out and about and feeling ALIVE in the city, and it’s as if you were *born* to be here at this moment.

{{shrug}} Go figure.

No recommendations for country walks… I do hope you enjoy your weekend. Thanks to this little exchange, mine’s already off to a lovely start…

modest mouse – the world at large

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Like this post

Unlike