Home: Pulling The Safety Blanket Away

“A fingernail moon in a twilight sky

I’m ridin’ in the high grass of the switchback

I shout your name into the canyon

The echo throws it back

The winter snow whites out the plains

’Til it can turn you blind

The only thing up here I’ve found

Is tryin’ to get you off my mind

Is like chasin’ wild horses, chasin’ wild horses

Chasin’ wild horses, chasin’ wild horses”

-Bruce Springsteen, Chasin’ Wild Horses

This is a piece about home. The place I’ve known for most of my life. My biggest safety blanket. This is about looking honestly at that home and understanding that it is not where I belong any longer. This is about moving on….

It’s that time of the year that brings holiday cheer, family gatherings of joy and, of course, the age old question, “What am I thankful for?” I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, feeling genuine gratitude for this place while at the same time preparing to leave it behind. You see, after the New Year, I’ll find myself on the road. I’m finally leaving Cambridge, MA, where I have lived for roughly 40 years of my life.