Channing Mink
Art Major, UC Santa Barbara
Chapter 1.
Recently, time has moved backwards for many. Losing a job you have had for years. Or that took you years to earn. Canceling a trip you have been looking forward to for months. Moving out, but back into the place where you grew up.
In many ways, it seems that the past has become the present once again. At least this is how I felt while I moved back into my childhood home for two and a half months.
Drives that feel like muscle memory.
Familiar landscapes.
A change in scenery.
It was back to open spaces, rolling hills, and a break from the typical chaos.
With this came feelings of familiarity, nostalgia, and home. A reuniting with faces I thought defined more of my past than present. Memories begin repeating themselves, the different eras of life overlapping once again.
I‘m no longer surrounded by people my age.
There was younger.
There was older.
And none of the above....
Back to sibling bonds.
Getting back into old hobbies.
Time to finish projects started five years ago.
Doing anything to pass the time.
It's almost as if we're watching paint dry.
Chapter 1.5
When it’s time to return to “normal” life, something still pulls me back towards my first home. All I could think of for the past months - friends, fun, freedom - seem somewhat surface level.
The feeling of being trapped turns into appreciation. An experience I never expected or wanted, but I'll probably never get to have again.
The grass is always greener.
A middle ground: I have two places to call home, even two versions of myself, in a sense.
Chapter 2
Same me, same state of the world, different home - back to my college life.
From having my own room again, to messy, shared closets.
From my empty childhood street, to one where it can take hours to find a parking spot.
Focusing on appreciating a view we will only have for a couple more weeks. A temporary house that has also turned into a home for me.
Taking mental snapshots of times to remember.
Adjusting to celebrate milestones.
Friends have become family away from home.
In this time of uncertainty, I have become conscious that I am standing on a "middle ground" of life right now. This feeling comes from the fact that, despite their differences, I've realized I call two places home - both the place where I grew up and the place I am finding who I will be in the future.
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COVID in the Spring - 2020
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