Homesick

I haven't been homesick for a really long time, but this weekend I found myself being super melancholy. The weather was beautiful, Neil was home, I had everything I needed, my job/financial situation is more or less stable, but there was/is something missing and it's leaving a hole.

I think I'm feeling (in part) the rootlessness that David Orr describes in his book The Nature of Design : Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention. He talks about how our consumer mindset has taken away our connectedness to our communities and the natural world and how we, as a nation, are hurting from that loss. Also, he describes the negative effects of our fast-paced, technological culture. How we change so fast that places we knew as kids (the places that help form our image of the world) disappear by the time we're adults and how that loss of "home" affects the happiness and well-being of the entire country. We have no roots anymore. We live hundreds or thousands of miles away from the rest of our families. And to fill the gap in our hearts and souls left by this distance, we buy more stuff. It's a vicious circle resulting in social isolation, a battered earth, and global warming. Poo on our stupid way of life. Poo, indeed. Let's change, shall we?

It's a good book. A little depressing, but good. It makes me miss home.