Part 13: Final farewell to Northampton
The last time Kelly and I went for a visit to Northampton, we said it would be our last. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time seeing friends and everything, but going back after all that time didn’t feel the same. But last week we were eating our words when we found ourselves heading yet again to Northampton, the place home to so many of our beginnings, including our friendship.
Kerry had called up Kel Monday night to see about meeting up with us before our visas run out and it turned out that there was only one good day to go up and see everyone all at once, which happened to be the next Wednesday. It was a last-minute affair, but it turned out really great in the end since we were able to see pretty much everyone we had hoped to. It was just a quick trip, up one evening and back the next afternoon, but it was a nice mid-week break. Not that I have anything substantial to take a break from, but I’m sure Kelly enjoyed it. It is always weird to go back somewhere you’ve known in the past and see how things have changed. In our case, it hasn’t been all that long, so I can’t even imagine what it must be like to return somewhere after a long time away. It’s not so much that the place had changed, in fact, it was still identical in every way, from the voice telling us to take caution while stepping onto the escalator at the bus station to the guy calling out food orders at our favorite late-night burger joint; it was different in a perceptible but indiscernible way. I think it is us who’ve changed.
With the last few of our friends nearing graduation, there really will be no reason to go back to visit Northampton in the future. It’s kind of sad. Maybe if I say I’ll never be back that’ll be enough to ensure a return visit in the future…maybe a UCN reunion twenty years down the line. But even though that theory has proved true several times in the past, I can’t help but think that this could very well have been my last trip to the place that has played such a pivotal role in the course of my life over the last few years. Oh, Northampton, have another Snakey B for me…I’ll never be back.
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