"People come--they stay for a while, they flourish, they build--and they go. It is their way. But we remain. There were badgers here, I've been told, long before that same city ever came to be. And now there are badgers here again. We are an enduring lot, and we may move out for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and back we come. And so it will ever be."
-Badger, the Wind in the Willows.
I live in a city. I've come to stay for just a while, but I'm also from an enduring lot.
The Wind in the Willows, which has always been one of my very favorites, comes to mind frequently in this city that couldn't be less like the universe that Rat and Mole and Badger inhabited. Must be a combination of searching for belonging and missing my home, I suppose. If you haven't read it, then it you really should. Best of all is to find a child who can sit still and read it aloud to them. The book starts with Mole putting down his spring cleaning in disgust and leaving his home without a look back. He doesn't even go out through the existing tunnels, he just burrows a new one to the top and takes off into the Wide World.
I'm not Mole though. I look back all the time.
I love the idea of finding a random child to read aloud to. I think I'll have to attempt it. I think I'd identify with the concept, and maybe after, said willing child will let me hug them.
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