Missing Home Ramblings

Tonite has been difficult.  I am missing home with a fierceness.  I always get sad this time of year.  I dont have the "core" of friends and loved ones here that I have back home.  Some days I contemplate just packing up Willow and myself and leaving.  Things are so different here.  Ive never really acclamated to it.  I love Asheville.  Asheville is home now but its still different.  I was raised around so much culture. I lived in a melting pot in SE Florida.  It always boggles my mind when people say they love Asheville because it has so much diversity.  Really??? Now I suppose depending on your definition of diversity, maybe..Asheville is not diverse people! Eclectic, yes.  Otherwise its just a bunch of weird white people running around.  Which is all good! Thats what we love about our city, but as far as culture goes, you could fit it in one hand. I miss my old neighborhood.  I miss the food, music, the openess of people, the crazy shit that is the norm. I havent had real Cuban, ethiopian, korean, el salvadorian, peruvian or island food since I left home (aside from when I go back home to visit) I miss the diversity of my friends.  Every race, ethnicity, sexual preference, social status, religious preference etc.  we just all melded together.  No cliques or people that are all just like each other.  People get crazy here from time to time about only socializing with like-minded people.  Dont get me wrong I want to keep good company, but good company can be found in any "clique" of people.  I dont understand why people dont mix better here.  Im not sure if I ever will get use to this.  I completely cant get use to the way people socialize here.  AT ALL.  I like to go out and have drinks at bars just like most people, but I would much rather have people over for drinks.  People dont do that here.  Everybody meets at bars or restaurants.  Nobody hangs out in the neighborhood on the porch here??  Whats wrong with these people?? People dont get together and cook dinners or BBQ or anything.  Nothing.  If they do its for an occassion and even that is rare.  I crave that.  And yes I do go out, if i didnt I would have no social life at all.  I think next year I might just boycott all bars and stay home! Besides Im the best bartender I know! Mostly I miss the absolute random and beauty of all my diverse friends.  Our get togethers, several nites a week.  consuming way to many bottles of wine, dancing in the kitchen, while cooking and just being complete goofballs.  My bestfriend and I waltzing in the kitchen, bc nobody else could waltz or spin like we could.  dancing on the kitchen table to The Cure, Joy Division, Flaming Lips, New Order,  Depeche Mode etc.  The annual neighborhood/block Halloween party, Christmas, New Years, too many absolutely ridiculous 4th of July parties, so many birthday parties i lost count and the all random gatherings every week, for anything we could think of to just be a community. All the kids (because everyone had kids accept me and 2 others) running around playing and having a great time. life just was...as it should be.   Yes, I miss home.  Thank Goddess its only a 10 hr drive away and I have perfected the skill of doing it straight thru overnight without stopping and making it home just in time to sit on the sand on the beach and feel the cool salty morning air whip through my hair and watch the sunrise. Time for a roadtrip~