ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110093
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: New River Journal
SOURCE: GERRY DAVIES
I have a confession to make.
I'm not from around here.
But I'm hoping to be.
Nonsensical as that might sound, it makes perfect sense to me. You see, I need to be from somewhere again.
I used to be from somewhere. I grew up in Pennsauken, N.J., an industrial suburb of Philadelphia. Lived there for 18 years. But when it came time for college I went away to Ohio. I stayed there for my first newspaper job, but I expected to head back home any time. Then my second job came, and it was in Detroit. Followed by New York. Then New Hampshire.
I waited expectantly, but South Jersey never called.
There were lots of trips back, of course, for family visits, weddings, baptisms. But as each year went by, it was less and less my home. Friends grew away or moved away. The fields and woods where I'd built forts and played soldier became subdivisions. The mall was full of strange stores and strange people.
And then on one trip a few years ago something truly traumatic happened.
I got lost.
On a routine trip around town, I couldn't find my way.
Whether I liked it or not, I knew Pennsauken wasn't my home - my somewhere - any more.
The problem was, I hadn't found a new one.
In my wanderings I never spent more than a few years in any town. That was long enough to get to know a place, but never long enough to make it home. Neighbors might know my name, and stores might take my checks, but nobody really knew me.
And I didn't know them.
Now, 21 years after leaving home for the first time, I want another home, and I want it to be the New River Valley.
Maybe it's a midlife thing, or because I have a wife and kids now, but I want to feel I'm a part of this place in a way I haven't felt since I left Pennsauken.
There was nothing magical about Pennsauken. It was pretty much working-class grungy. Some wit (my brother Glenn, I think) said Pennsauken was a Lenape Indian word meaning "valley of the industrial park."
But I knew that town, and I knew its people. I knew where you could pick blackberries, where the best ball field was, where to catch tadpoles, who were the good kids and who were the ones my mother called "bad eggs."
I've been in Blacksburg a couple of years now, and it's getting to be my somewhere. I can tell you where to get decent coffee or a good pizza. I can recommend a good veterinarian and a good church. I can find my way home from almost anywhere in town.
And the most important part - the people part - that's coming along, too. I can't say anyone here but my wife really knows me yet, but there are some who will, I think.
When that happens, I'll be home again.
And I plan to stay.
Gerry Davies is night metro editor for The Roanoke Times.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB