Blogger Diary: Homesick?

Do you ever feel homesick for a place that isn’t technically your home?

Around this time each year I start to feel almost overwhelmingly homesick for the beach. I need to feel that sense of freedom that comes with driving there with the windows down, radio up, and the joy I feel when, always right around the same point – as I near the Somers Point exit on the Garden State Parkway – the scent of the shore reaches my nostrils.

It’s a smell that you grow to love, of combination of sea salt and the marshes that surround the island, which I have yet to smell anywhere else but Jersey. I have an indescribable need to put my feet in the sand by the water’s edge and let the waves rush gently towards and over them, and then back again as my feet sink into the wet sand. The shock of the cold pre-summer ocean water refreshes my soul and rejuvenates my body. My mind seems to instantly clear when I’m at the beach – thoughts are sorted out and feelings start to make sense.

The beach is my happy place, for sure… do you ever feel homesick for a certain place?

Photos by Julia.

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11 years ago

I do. Especially since I’ve moved roughly every year for the last 5 years or so, certain times of the year bring back fond memories of very specific places. But I am frequently homesick for the coast of Maine, even though I’ve only ever visited. There is something about the ocean that is so compelling.

11 years ago

I totally feel homesick almost everyday. Im living where I grew up and love this place, but with all that travelling and being in different places with lots of different people makes me feel not “at home”. Don’t know where I want to live in the future, but wanna make it my very own “home”, where I dont get homesick everyday… but is there “the perfect home”, where you dont have the feeling of being homesick?
It seems to be exactly where your not. Strange.

Diane
11 years ago

I can so totally relate ! Nice post!

Krissa
11 years ago

I am lucky enough to call the NJ Shore my home and reading this made me miss it so much! I am currently going to school in Virginia and cannot wait to go home and feel the sand under my toes. The NJ shore often gets a bad rep, so thanks for posting this! :)

11 years ago

Same. I feel homesick for the sea a lot. There is a small village in the north of Scotland, right on the coast, where I’ve been going for the last 10 years. I love it there. The air is so clear. I’m planning another trip with my kids this summer. :)