Love Song for Georgia.
9.9.07.
I miss it. I miss it so much. It was only a part of me for 8 months and yet, it has become such a part of me. I wake up, and I feel it. Georgia.
With your funny accent and your big heart. With your bluegrass music and cicadas zipping and shrilling in the night. With your kind smiles and heartfelt hellos. Your gorgeous autumn leaves and frilly lavender-laden vines in the spring.
I miss walking down your streets. Finding myself lost but finding home again. Your trees and your leaves guided my way.
And in October, I plucked pumpkins from your hay.
And when the light hit the breeze, I danced beneath your canopies. And over your fallen crispy leaves, I stomped and stepped my feet in beat to the tunes off my mp3 player. I’ll never forget getting lost amidst the trees…a bit perplexing, but I have to say, it was the most beautiful place I have ever gotten lost in.
I had once made a wrong turn jogging along the paths of Oconee Forest Park–a grouping of trails, a lake, a pond, and several fields just behind my apartment building. It was the beginning of spring, and I remember being surrounded by piles and piles of green. Breathtaking, really. A part of me was almost glad I had gotten lost, there amongst the foilage–soothed into silence by the presence of nature. And as I was finding my way back, seemingly encountering a fallen tree at every turn, praying to God I wouldn’t get bit by a snake or have my flesh invaded by chiggers, another part of me wanted to remain. Not only to remain, but to venture further, and see what else there was.
(But then I heard the highway on my right and realized I had gone too far.)
Georgia…this September, I remember my anticipation of the leaves turning, and when they did, (come the closing of October), I remember the red, orange and golden hues bursting from the branches…and I remember the green ginkgo trees dipping themselves in yellow paint. And day turned to night much faster. The air began to chill…slowly…but surely.
I didn’t miss the palm trees so much. All my life I wanted to SEE fall, and finally, here it was. Here, where I was living.
Did it really take the other side for me to see, Georgia really did make me happy?
Maybe. But I always knew…
no matter the season, no matter the place, no matter the inconsistencies in life, I would always, always love you. And I’m sorry I went away.