across ocean bridges

to cheer myself up this afternoon, amidst a cold which i am determined to kick by tomorrow, i am thinking ahead to the christmas holidays--of flying across an ocean to see my family, of the buttoning-up of snow, of the tiny lights along the darkling walk Z & i will make across the guinness-world-record liftbridge in my small hometown. there's something strange about casting around flickr for photos of the place you grew up, especially when you are so far from it. seeing the random snapshots others took caused a disembodied sensation for me--feelings of such familiarity and knowing a place rubbed right up against the fact that i haven't lived there for a long time. i don't really believe in nostalgia (or that i will likely live where i grew up again) but looking at the liftbridge in the middle of my wintering hometown felt personal and historical in this satisfying-small way that once in a while makes one's life, and it's stories, feel suddenly very real.

{image via doug}