Homeward Bound

Home is where the heart is. At least, that’s what I’ve always heard throughout the years. But I find that as I grow up, it’s becoming harder and harder to define home. I used to be so sure of it, my home, where my parents are and there’s always home cooked meals and laughs to be had. Dad’s usually hidden behind the door waiting to torture (in the best way), mom gets home from work exhausted but loving. This is what I’ve known, this is who I’ve been, and this is what defined me. But suddenly a wrench is thrown in to my simple scenario. All of a sudden home is less cut and dry. I leave for the real world, my parents’ move from my high school home, and all of a sudden I’m sent on a tailspin. Is San Francisco my home? The Salinas Valley? Although my perspectives change more rapidly than a speeding train, for now, home is with the people I love. I love my roommates, I love San Francisco. I love the smell, the fast-paced way people go about their days, and the beautiful view from Lone Mountain. I love Spicer reservoir, canoeing and soaking up the sun without a care in the world. I love Arroyo Seco, and finally beginning to understand why John Steinbeck wrote about it as “a little piece of heaven.” I love Carmel Valley, between the roads of Boronda and Laureles Grade. I love a person in Riverside, Santa Barbara, Eugene, Davis, Mazatlán, and everywhere in between. So I guess, for now, home is all over the place. This weekend, home will be with my family. Home will mean waking up in my bed next to a sister who doesn’t share blankets and waking up to a David & Sonia making breakfast upstairs. But since not everyone I love will be there, part of me will be just like Simon & Garfunkel. Eternally, homeward bound.

I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket for my destination.
On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand.
And every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.

Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Every day's an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines.
And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And every stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be,

Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.

Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Silently for me.