Pieces and Parts

I left home when I was 17. It seems I’ve been traveling ever since. 

The truth is that, while I am prone to moving around, I’ve been in one place for the largest portion of my life. That place is Orlando, Florida. I’ve been here close to 30 years! As I think about it, I find that it’s hard for me to reconcile the fact that so much time has passed, and so much has changed.

When I came to Orlando I was married, working on building my career in IT, and saw being here as another adventure. Things pretty much worked out along those lines. Fast forward 25+ years and I am now divorced, retired, and getting ready for another adventure. I’m moving to South Carolina.

Some may see this new chapter as an ill-considered decision, but a lot of thought went into it. I knew I would leave Florida eventually, well before I knew where I would wind up. I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. To paraphrase a lyric from Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’; four seasons, deciduous trees, hilly landscapes, and cooler weather are a breed in me, a need in me. There are other factors that pushed me into deciding to move, but, if I’m honest with myself, I knew it was always going to happen.

When I first started looking around for places I might land my first consideration was in the Appalachians, specifically south-western Virginia. My parents and my grandparents came from that area and I thought it might not be a bad idea to get back to my roots, learn more about my family’s history. While in the Peace Corps I had thought that maybe I should expand my search. While I love nature and being outdoors, I am an urban kid at heart and there are only small to medium sized towns in that part of the country. 

I then considered Johnson City, Tennessee. It’s certainly big enough with a nice size university in town, guaranteeing a level of diversity and urban flavor that I like while being close to many state and national parks. And that area has a thriving music scene fed by its proximity to Bristol, Tennessee and Nashville. 

But I had a chance to stay with some friends who live near Greenville, South Carolina. Each time I visited my friends showed me more of what Greenville had to offer, which turns out to be quite a lot. Like Johnson City, Greenville is close to one of our country’s original music generating cities. The area chock full of talented artists and musicians. It’s near many state and national parks and only a few hours from beaches, for when I feel the need to see the ocean. The weather is mild, varied and, most of all, the area has four distinct seasons. And I can afford to live there. What’s not to like?

Even though Orlando has never felt like home to me it is a place that I’ve come to love. If you spend 25+ years in a place there’s bound to be something about it that becomes a part of who you are. That’s really what happened to me. I’ve enjoyed the beaches here, and the storms. When the weather is nice it can be really nice. Most of all, I’ve enjoyed the people I’ve met while here. Most of them I knew from my job, but lately, many are people I’ve met who share a common love of music, among other things. These are people I can truly call my friends. As I pack up my belongings and prepare to leave the house I’ve owned for 10 years, my heart aches as the many, many memories drift through my mind.

One of my friends wrote a poem to commemorate my leaving. It so inspired me to write one too. So, to my many wonderful friends, a poem:

Pieces
By Vern Seward

I like to think that I’m a wandering man
Never satisfied to stay
To leave my footprints in foreign sands
And relish foreign days.

But truth be told, where ever I go,
Whatever sights I behold
I leave behind a part of me,
A little bit of my soul.

And yet my soul is not undone,
It’s bigger than before
For each bit that I leave behind
Is replaced by even more.

For in whatever place I be
It’s the people whom I meet
That makes each place a memory,
That makes my soul complete.

And when I leave for other sights,
For places yet to discover,
I take the bits of soul they gave,
Which helps mine to recover.

Now, to those I leave behind
Please know that I take with me
The bits of you that are so fine,
Pieces that will sustain me.

Be well.

Stay tuned.

Vern