Novelty

Novelty: the quality of being new, original, or unusual.

When we lived on the West Coast, every single day felt like some sort of vacation. Warm(er) weather, Palm trees, mountains in the distance, sleeping with windows open almost year round; all of it. I remember going on vacation while living in California and at the end of said vacation thinking, “Oh well, leaving one vacation to go home to the next.”

Yet no matter what, there was always something missing. The novelty of it all wore off extremely fast.

Despite missing family and friends dearly back home in Minnesota, I figured the novelty of this would all wear off in a similar fashion. In fact, people warned us it would. “Things won’t be the same,” and “It won’t be like what you’re hoping it will be.” Those were common things we would hear.

After almost 1 year and 3 months being back home, I still feel the novelty of it all. There is not a single thing in this small town (or really even this state) that is brand new to me, and yet it all feels very new.

Just as I was doing immediately upon moving back, I am seeing things for the hundredth time, and yet most of the time, it feels like I’m seeing them for the first time. My lens is different, completely different, now.

It has been almost exactly 5 years ago to the day (March 28, 2014) when I wrote, “Butterflies in my Stomach.” In the post, I stated,

There is something about back home (good ‘ole Minnesota), back roads and the “Friday night fish fry” at the local American Legion that has me craving a little less, a little more often.

Those are the simple things I would have never found in California. Not because they weren’t there, but because the people I wanted to share it all with would not have been there.

I’ve realized during this past year+ that there isn’t really anything so novel about things and scenery, though I like to tell myself so.

The novelty lies within people.

Palm trees don’t look the same when you’re gazing at them alone. And the lake — even when it’s frozen over, covered with powdery, white snow — is absolutely stunning when the house is packed with friends and family.

Xox, SKH

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