Keeps Me Turnin' Home

Just a few days ago I touched ground again in my hometown. One can have all of the glitz and glamour and adventures of far-away places, but sometimes it is good to remember that place where you came from. I will admit that I often think about other places and how magical they sound, but then when I am in those places I defend West Michigan like it’s my job.

Last night when my family and I got back from the cottage up north, Jessie and I debated for a couple of hours of where we would go watch the Fourth of July fireworks. We already had our annual (22 years for me!) cottage July Fourth celebration, and usually on the actual holiday we are with friends spending time in good old Grandville. Things are now more complex because yesterday we had the option of either going to the beach to watch the fireworks, go downtown and watch a display in the city, or go to our usual spot in the grass at Grandville Middle School. Honestly, the thought of going to Grandville’s fireworks did not inspire me, just because it was Grandville…my hometown. And I mean given the choice of an expensive show on the beaches of Grand Haven or sitting on damp grass along Wilson Ave. which would you choose? However, after much debate, we decided we would just go to Grandville’s.

As we drove around town, stopping at my favorite gas station to get pop, I was able to really check the town out again for the first time in a long time. We drove past my high school where I saw those beautiful tennis courts where so many matches were played. We passed the mall where I remember spending my middle school weekends with my friends and waiting outside the movie theater for my parents to pick me up. Then we drove along Rivertown Crossings where Rachel once drove on the wrong side of the road and almost got us all killed. And of course we went by Panera Bread where my mom and I would stop nearly every Saturday morning for coffee during the long and cold winters and where just this year I met Sara to warm up in the -22 degree bitterness. Then we passed the boy’s house that I had a crush on since sixth grade and I remembered how in high school my friends would pull into his house just to make me nervous. And Steak n’ Shake where we all went after prom until 2 am laughing until I couldn’t breathe. Then going down Barry and being reminded of the first time I drove my white minivan through a blizzard down that hill right after I got my license. When we finally got to Wilson and saw the American flags lined along the street with family after family walking down with lawn chairs and lemonades and firecrackers, I felt good to be home and was proud of Grandville; a place where not just a season of my life occurred, but my whole life. The place I grew up in and came back to over holidays and long weekends in college. The town that really did build me and helped launch me into the real world. Even though the fireworks were probably not as great as the ones along the beach, and the same band that’s been playing for years that plays the same songs year after year was there, and the same elephant ears and walking taco stands were up, it could not have been a better hometown Fourth of July.

I think it’s really precious how people talk about their hometowns. In Florida as we would all reminisce about the place we left behind so far away, each would describe it as something incredible. I would hear them all speak about Maryland or West Virginia or Georgia and so on in ways that made me actually want to visit. Each town held something special to each of us, and not because of the sites or the things in the place, but because of the memories stored there. I mean, who can really say if Michigan or Georgia is better (I personally say Michigan, but I guess I am not being objective)? It’s all in the memories. And no matter how far away I go or new places I fall in love with, my heart will always be warmed when I see the “Vernor’s Ginger Ale” sign on the pop machines like I did for the first time in a long time yesterday…because, let me tell you, in no other state I have been in yet do they have the choice of Vernors on the vending machine.

The lyrics to the song below are some of my favorites. Whoever wrote the song did an amazing job because they make me feel like I am back home even when I am far away, and it reminds me of how wonderful it is to remember where you came from. It’s true, the memories on each corner of the street in Grandville, and being able to drive along the old roads and pass the Rainbow Grill and know that your mom and grandpa have been going there for years just like you is something that does keep you turning home.

Turning Home –David Nail

Usually take one last pass through town, stop the car, touch the ground

Watch those street lights swayin’ in the breeze. Decorated storefronts. Rusty ol’ gas pumps.

Try to fill my mind up with somethin’ ‘fore I go.

Picture postcard memories, well, they always make for good company.

I don’t know no town like the ol’ town, even when the miles are many, I feel like I’m still around.

Deep inside me like a ring’s through an oak tree, there’s something ‘bout a Sunday when I’m gone

That keeps me turnin’ home.

Standin’ here beneath these billboard lights, takes me back to those autumn nights.

Hometown bleachers packed real tight as we marched down the field.

My feet would swing from a dropped tailgate, out on Airport Road real late.

No one could walk a line too straight, but usually made it home alright.

And glory days I can’t relive, stories I’ll never forget.

I don’t know no friends, like the old friends. I never seem to laugh now, like I did with them.

But deep inside me, a piece of my history, I hear their voice even though they’re gone

And it keeps me turnin’ home.

Never twice the same way does it start, sure enough she stole my heart. On that ol’ gym floor spinnin’ ‘round and ‘round one night. And though we both tried real hard to wait, we sure did love the taste of the sweet love bein’ made, and prayin’ I got it right.

Graduation came and went, along with all the time we spent.

I don’t know no love like the first love. When I think about the best times, she’s the one I think of.

Deep inside me, oh the taste is bittersweet, I see her smilin’ even though she’s gone

And it keeps me turnin’ home.