a different world

Still in Texas. Taking in the sights and sounds and smells. Remembering....what it was like...to live here. I grew up in a suburb of Houston, that could have been in any state in the country. But not far from our house, there was a world. There was a state. (That use to be it's own nation :) Where the roads are gavel and the driveways are long. With a mail box at the end. Where there are cows roaming and trains running through farm land. 4 way stop signs on highways. And barbwire fences separating spaces. Where land comes in acres, not feet. Where you could ride horses with your best friend and camp in a field...and see stars at night. Where the trees were tall, and old. Where the sounds were of nature. And they were peaceful. Where you could find....quite. Where you could get away. To a small town. For an afternoon. And feel like you were so far from home.

I ease back into this world so easily. I drive a little slower, talk a little tougher, and remember what it was like to be in this world. But when I enter it now, it feels different. Like I can not stay. Like people look at me, and they know, I do not belong here. That I am just visiting. When did this stop being just....home, and start feeling like a different world?