Akron on a Sunday Afternoon

This city

It has worked itself into my dreams like no other place before

The streets where I wandered as a youth no longer occupy my thoughts

It used to be my refuge
My safe place to be

Wanderer that I am I thought home would always come first

I didn't count on the meaning of home changing on me like it has

Home used to be a lonely place full of empty streets

Flat and  busy with cars that do not stop

Now the streets swing high and low on a Sunday afternoon

Hills washed in gold by the setting sun of early fall

Cheerful and welcoming

The more I see

The more I find

The more I love

Sometimes this emotion is too much

I laugh at myself for feeling so strongly for this place

At other times I think that no one else could possibly love it more

Then there are those men and women I have met

Those who allow me to see this gem through their eyes

I am struck by how much this city is loved, beloved, embraced

The one person who could rightly lay claim to being its greatest admirer

Allowed me into his private realm

I saw this place through the eyes of a father

Looking from his vantage point

I saw his hopes, felt his love, his pride and his regrets for this place

I became smitten once again

This city has won my heart

For every reason there is to want to leave

There are a thousand little things that keep you rooted here

There is no place like home

Until home is this new place