Oooooo, it is so good to be home. I made a super quick run to Birmingham while my stepmama had surgery yesterday. She did great and I got to spend some time with my Dad and stepsister. Family is a powerful thing, isn’t it? Our home and hearth…the place where we return to again and again. I usually find a great deal of peace by being with my family. And I can also experience my greatest stress and angst in their presence. How can that be? I think it has something to do with the fact that those we love the most and let in the most…those who know us best….have the greatest power over us. Being with my family grounds me and reminds me of what is most important, and that is loving and being loved. I have two homes. One here in Fairview with my nearest and dearest, the home I have made and worked for with my spouse. It is my immediate haven, and there I am most happy. This home is the canopy under which I eat and sleep. But then I go to my other home, the home that sits nestled under Vulcan’s bum, Birmingham. I grew up staring in wide-eyed wonder at his commanding iron buttocks, visiting the old downtown Alabama theater on Saturdays, and hanging in Southside during my single girl days. I know many of her nooks and crannies, and still feel the pull of those old haunts. I passed restaurants I visited with friends, grocery stores where I plunked down many a dollar, and my alma mater, Bham Southern. This is the home of my youth, where my roots dig deep into red clay and iron ore. Both places are important. Both are home. Both feed different parts of me. What a grand day today was…where I woke up in one home and then joyfully returned to the other. I feel a bit like a kid again today. I even came home with chocolate chip cookies and challah from Big Sky Bakery!
As a travelogue aside, if you are not from Bham, think about taking a trip. To be such a large city, she maintains a small town feel. She glories in her belle-like gardens and neighborhood niches. For those of you looking for a weekend away, I have made a list of places you have to visit. It’s only a three hour drive from Nashville, but it would make for a great little weekend get-away.
Stay at:
1. The Tutwiler hotel. Claaaaaaas-sy.
Eat at:
2. Highlands Bar and Grill. Chef Frank Stitt is one of the wonders of the South. Go and have one of the best meals of yourlife. Make your reservation well in advance!
3. Surin West- great Thai food on Southside.
4. Hot and Hot Fish Club.
5. Bottegas-anther of Chef Stitts establishments
Shop at:
6. Smith’s Variety Store in Mountain Brook Village. My favorite place to buy a hairbow or a button.
7. Let’s Get Organized in Homewood. OCD friends-take plenty of money.
And visit:
8. The Birmingham Zoo.
9. The Botanical GArdens (particularly in the spring when the azaleas and rhododendrons are blooming.)
10. The Civil Rights Museum.
11. IMAX theater…the BEST imax I have visited.
To my friends and family still there, next time you look north, hold your face up….and consider yourself kissed.
Mwah.
oakabbey said,
February 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Thanks for this sweet glimpse into your world.
Julie said,
February 7, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Glad the surgery went well and you had such a good day. I miss Bham and now I have visions of Vulcan’s boohiney in my head. I’m gonna be 40 this year and still feel 15 around my parents at times. Gah! Oh…I am so enjoying the pictures from our school days that are popping up on fb!