Familiar Friends

I found myself in Target the other day. The second the automatic doors opened I was cocooned by the sticky smell of the snack bar and within a few steps I felt as if I walked through some kind of travel portal. In a time where I feel like I have very little control over the things in my life I welcome the constants. The smell and set up of Target is one of those constants. I don’t have to worry about what lies behind a turn or what I might meet at the end of the aisle because I know where things are. I don’t really need to buy anything on this particular day. I just need something familiar.
The Google home page is another friend. It reminds me of holidays and today it reminds me that it is the first day of Spring. This day would have just passed by unremarkably here in Florida but those flowers surrounding the .com logo remind me that if I were home I would have marked the day by taking the long way home from work today. I imagine that it is sunny in New Jersey (although traditionally the weather provides irony on the first day of Spring) as I might go over the Navesink Bridge, mustering all my willpower to drive on past Crazee’s ice cream, and continue on down River Road to home. Today, as I wind around Hillsborough Bay, I will be reminded that I am a long way from home, but those constants that are ever present will tell again that home is just around the corner or at the end of the aisle.