Returning to Park City, So Amazing to See Reflection in the Eyes of Another

This is the 2nd time Chitunga, Glamis and I have done an extended weekend in Amagansett (this time, it was work-related for me). We head over through New London, and return back through Port Jefferson and Bridgeport. The angles and perspectives of the round-robin trip paints a picture of multiple Americas. On top of the PT Barnum, Chitunga walked to the railing as we approached the city he knew as home for middle and high school. He's away now, so there's nostalgia and curiosity that wasn't there before.

"It doesn't make sense," he says out loud. "There's so much possibility here."

I said and continue to say the same for Syracuse. Filling in the gaps left behind the factory flight of the 70s and 80s has left the rustbelt constantly looking for a way to reinvent itself. He's in college and thinking about this, wondering why people haven't been smarter and proactive about engaging a city plan and sustainable development. For so many traveling from the Long Island Ferry, it's interesting that their welcome to Connecticut isn't more friendly and engaging.

Of course, Chitunga reminded me that a felon was voted in as the last mayor - he's now running for Governor of the State.

I told Chitunga I get the same feeling every time I return to Syracuse. It's still my home-home ,and I love to see the changes and traditions still alive and trying to do well every time I drive back. He said,  "I feel like a stranger now to our home in Stratford, like this doesn't belong to me anymore."

It never did. That is a lesson one learns as they get older (and I'm thinking of my dad, his sister and his brother, whose parents' home showed up in a random Facebook posting the other day from the Sherburne Pageant of Bands). It all is temporary.

We made it back safe and both of us are now focused on a marathon workweek to get everything we can in order (of course, like me returning to my parents, he began his return by cleaning and rearranging his room).

So great to have the short trip once again.