You Can't Go Home Again

Just got back from my marathon trip to the writers' conference in Lewisburg. Non-morning person that I am, I managed to get up and get ready to leave the house by 6:45 AM, and to survive using one of the most disgusting bathrooms in Central PA (not at the conference -0n the road), as well as managing to find some time to visit downtown Lewisburg and the Bucknell campus.

It was foggy this morning when I left, and tonight, that seems an apt metaphor. Things in Lewisburg were just not the way I remembered them. Not at the conference, not on campus and not downtown. I don't know if memory drops a convenient fog over things, making them seem better, or whether you really just can't go home again.

Don't get me wrong, Lewisburg is still a great little town, but today, I was profoundly aware of how much things had changed, and how many things (myself included) were showing their age. Familiar stores were gone, familiar buildings looked tired and unfamiliar students looked...young.

A shiny new Bucknell bookstore will grace the corner of Fourth and Market Streets sometime soon, but that new construction gave me the same feeling I have when I watch Meg Ryan close the doors to her Shop Around the Corner for the last time in You've Got Mail. Maybe because the on-campus bookstore was my place of employment from February of freshman year until the May before I received my master's degree. Maybe it's because just a few doors down, the sporting goods store that had been a fixture in Lewisburg since before I was a student was holding a liquidation sale. Maybe it's because I believe a campus bookstore belongs on campus.

Change is good, but loss is sad. New stores gracing Market Street and keeping the downtown vital is a good thing, because without them, the downtown will lose its vitality. But old stores closing, old traditions folding...maybe I'm showing my age, but to me, that's sad.

Same Name, New Location!

Happy Mother's Day! It's absolutely gorgeous here today, with weather that reminds me of the Memorial Day weekend three years ago when I sat on the porch swing at my sister- and brother-in-law's house and wrote my first blog. After nearly three years at my old (online) location, I've decided to try out a new location here at Blogger.

I've been struggling to keep up with my blog, and so my new location seemed a good place to try out my new approach ~ shorter entries. Those of you who know me and have followed my blogs and my life are probably laughing uproariously, since I can't order dinner at Wendy's in less than a paragraph of text, but I am going to give it my best shot.

Last weekend marked a year that I met my agent, Diana Flegal and lots of other great folks (hi Mary, Suellen, Jan and Loree!) at the Susquehanna Valley Writers Conference in Lewisburg, and appropriately enough, I joined The Susquehanna Writers blog pretty close to that anniversary date. If you haven't been there yet, check it out at http://thesusquehannawriters.blogspot.com/ to get news and info from lots of other Central PA writers, including info on book releases. And, if you live in Central PA and haven't checked out the Susquehanna Valley Writers Conference in Lewisburg, mark your calendars for the first weekend in October. As a Bucknell grad, I can vouch for the fact that Lewisburg is especially beautiful in the fall.

In keeping with my shorter posts mantra, I'm signing off!!

Lisa Lawmaster Hess is the author of Acting Assertively and Diverse Divorce. Her articles appear frequently in Central Penn Parent.