Friday, July 31, 2009

Homeward bound

I'm finally starting to feel like this small town is my home. I've been here 3 years now, delivered around 700 babies in that time, and am finally starting to figure out the relationships between the various families in the area. Knowing a person's last name around here is a strong clue as to which little village she resides in. And I'm finally starting to just know those things. I'm using the local slang for the names of these "towns".

I came here as an outsider...not related to anyone within several hours drive. I'm learning the rhythm of this particular small town. Who is related to whom and how (my head will still occasionally hurt trying to follow the pattern).

My son doesn't remember the house we lived in during residency hell. My daughter vaguely recalls it. They will grow up thinking of this as their hometown, not Michigan. DH and I know all of the back roads of Muskegon county...I don't know them that well around here. Yet.

But for them, this is where their thoughts will escape to, to quote Simon and Garfunkel.

2 comments:

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I love my home city, and am lucky to still be here. Only time I left was for medical school. My parents are still in the same house.

ER's Mom said...

Yeah, my mom is still in the house my folks built. They moved in when she was in her second trimester with me.