Saturday, April 23, 2022

Leaving Home





Not much of a wanderer, I guess. Oh, I've seen a few places thanks to rock'n'roll. I've pasted my head onto bodies in exotic places all around the world and I live in a house full of globes and maps. I'm a geographer, remember?

For most of my life, though, I've lived in Tampa. We moved here when I was six years old, my single mom, my grandmother and me. I've always told the story that it was my idea, that the mother allowed the kid to make a big life decision. Now, finally, I realize that I was played. You can't just pick up and move after a life in one place, can you? 

Maxine's heart was in Florida. Sunny skies, warm beaches, a new life. She told friends and relatives that her son wanted to move to Tampa. Instead of defending the move, she merely defended spoiling her son. She had no work. No home. No connections. 

For years friends and bandmates attempted to get me to move. New York. L.A. Nashville. Austin. Heck, London always offered me more than Tampa. My pal, Jimmy LaFave, always enjoyed torturing me as "geographically challenged." 

 I knew, but my heart was in Tampa. I love the place. It's home.

You know what they say, though- home is where the heart is, and now my heart is in Wales. Portugal looks pretty, too.  

I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't follow his heart.

Give us peace on earth and end this dreadful, dreadful war.






 

 

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