Places & Faces

     Sometimes the most meaningless places tend to have the most meaning. I know that doesn't make sense; actually...it's quite the contradiction. What I mean to say is that that the most random places are capable of holding so many memories. Memories that in present time seemed meaningless...yet stick with you forever...for no reason at all. 

     When I visit places from my teenage years (when I believed I was at my wisest-now realizing I'm nowhere near wise) I feel as though I'm trespassing into my old self. I feel so unwelcome even though that feeling is clearly being made up in my head.It's as though my mind is telling me to not backpedal. Move forward. Progress...not regress. Move on. 

     When I go to these old places. It's all new faces. New faces that are creating their own memories in such a meaningless place...but..I suppose that no place is meaningless afterall. The faces that pass through give it meaning, and that meaning will be different for every single person. 

     I sat in a restaurant the other night in Gaithersburg...a place I used to go to quite often...I looked at all the tables and remembered conversations I had at many of them...all the tables in the same place-after 6 years. While sitting there, I wondered if someone eating alone was having the same private thought in their head. I think too much.

    These familiar places are no longer familiar; and when I walk in I remember my old self. I wonder if this is a part of growing up..losing attachments to once familiar places and faces. 

My backyard. A place that will feel familiar to me..no matter how much I've changed.