For all my Shepherd friends, this one's for you.
Last Sunday, as I prepared to begin my fourth week of working from home which had become my "new" normal, like most I was starting to feel a bit antsy for a change of scenery. After all, just a mere few weeks ago, I was living the life of a DC metro area commuter, often spending nearly an hour on the road every morning and evening commuting to a job that often had me driving around the urban city for which I work quite frequently. Working outside of an office wasn't completely foreign to me, after all, I'd been known to take time in between appointments in the community to catch up on paperwork in the various parks, libraries, and cafe's around the city for years. But, having to transition that office to the same place where I sleep, relax, and worked for years to keep completely separate from my professional life posed as a little bit of a challenge.
I'll admit, for the first few weeks I felt that I had adjusted pretty seamlessly to working from my new home office, and relished in the positives such as sleeping a little later in the morning before my commute down a flight of stairs and being able to get out for my almost daily walk around my community minutes after I logged off for the day. My walks, as I wrote in my previous post had taken me on new trails in my community. But, as the weekend began, I started to realize I missed a bit of normalcy. On Saturday, I took advantage of the warm weather and set out on a long walk on my old familiar trail that I hadn't yet taken since this all began. Trekking along the familiar path helped but during that walk I realized I was beginning to miss things that I did every day that I often took for granted. One of those things was being able to drive. On the open road, with some good tunes and fresh air coming in through my sunroof.
Being a huge supporter of Virginia wine, after all I do work part time for Virginia winery, I thought I'd drive by a few wineries that I have yet to visit to plan for future trips to support the industry once the restrictions were lifted. So, I pulled put my Virginia winery map, grabbed Soli for some photo ops and set off.
But shortly after I started to drive something just didn't seem right. I found myself heading west into wine country and although I did pass a few wineries I plan to visit when this is all over, that didn't feel like it was the main purpose of this road trip. So, that's how I found myself headed towards Shepherdstown, West Virginia, the place where my adult life began, almost 27 years ago when I started my undergrad years at Shepherd College (now, University). Sure, I've been to Shepherdstown many times since I graduated back in 1997, more so in those years right after I left before I moved further away and became engrossed in my post college adult life, but as the years passed, my visits became fewer and further between.
As I made my way north and west, driving the roads that were so familiar from years ago brought back a flood of memories from a time that felt more than just one lifetime ago. Once I arrived in the small, West Virginia town nestled along the Potomac River, I found myself driving directly to the Rumsey Monument, a place I remember walking or riding my bike to many times during my college years for long talks with friends, or to watch the sunrise or sunset. It was hard not to get out of the car to climb the steps and admire the view of the river below, but even though the park was empty, I stayed in the car to continue my journey. I made my way through town and around the East side of campus, past several of the buildings where I had my classes, the library, the student center and football field. While it all felt familiar, the campus has grown and changed so much since my days there.
As I drove down the small side street I walked hundreds of times as I made my way from the West side of campus where I lived to the East side where all my classes were, I could remember those walks with the squirrels running on the electric wires above me along the cobblestoned and uneven sidewalks so vividly. I drove through the West side of campus, past Thacher Hall where I lived my first two years before moving to Boetler Hall in
West Woods for my last two years. I found the windows that were mine all those years ago before driving past the Frank Center where I spent many events as a musician in the "Ram Band" and later as a part of many events with Sigma Alpha Iota, my music fraternity.
A walk down memory lane, it was. Or a drive rather, as I never left the car. The whole time I kept thinking that it felt weird, it was a beautiful Sunday in early April. Campus should have been bustling with students enjoying the fresh air, locals wandering down German street and tourists perusing the tiny shops and munching on snacks from the Sweet Shop (oh, how I miss that place!). But it was quiet, a near ghost town it seemed as I only saw a few locals outside getting some fresh air. It saddened me to think that the campus that brought back so many memories of a time that feels like it was much longer than 25+ years ago would be quiet for months to come.
I bid Shepherdstown farewell, determined to continue to chart the journey of my post undergrad life and headed west to Martinsburg, for a quick drive through town before heading south to Winchester, Virginia, where I spent the first little over three years post college charting my path into adulthood. While the drive continued to feel familiar, so much had changed, too, that it almost felt foreign, too. I made my way past a few of my first work sites and ultimately found myself driving towards my first post college apartment. It'd been nearly 20 years since I moved away after getting a job 80 miles away in the thick of Northern Virginia, and probably that long since I'd driven through that small apartment community near the little regional airport. Yes, my first apartment was just down the road from an airport, off "Airport Rd" which struck me as ironic for the first time, knowing how my love for travel that has evolved in the last 25 years.
I left Winchester and headed east, back the same way I would have driven in those dreadful five weeks that I commuted to Old Town Alexandria from Winchester after I got my new job before I moved further in Northern Virginia. I continued my journey of passing places I hadn't passed in years and as I got closer to home once again, I realized it felt good to drive, good to get out and good to revisit places I hadn't been to in years. I drove 3 1/2 straight hours that Sunday afternoon and probably would've have driven more had I not brought along two large bottles of water and committed to not getting out of the car!
So, while I'm still grounded from the type of travel I enjoy so much, I'm determined to continue to find ways to explore the places I've called and continue to call home. And I look forward to visiting Shepherdstown again, hopefully sooner than later, when this is all over. A walk along those cobblestoned sidewalks and a visit to the Sweet Shop is calling my name.
"Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who you are- so you can more wisely build the future." -Paolo Freire
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