Potsdam

Potsdam has this way of sucking you in. Every time I come home, I'm
surprised to see who is still here, who has moved on, who has come back
from moving on. Almost all of my friends, from here or not, are in
some state of life transition right now, but it's interesting to see
how the ones from Potsdam always make sure to stop back before
beginning the next leg of their journey. It's like, we have to make
sure that at least one part of the world remains the same before we go
off to experience something else. This town is the litmus test for the
world.
On the other hand, it's always a little different each time I come
back, in its small way. Cowen's Country Store moved down the street,
into downtown proper. This is a big deal, because I had them pegged
for the kind of people who would run the store in that location until
they died, and be done with it. But no, movers and shakers they are.
The fence at the sorority at the end of the street is down. The music
store has more guitars, Stratocasters all of them, so many
Stratocasters! little things change for me. All the kids at the high
school have familiar last names and faces, but I don't know them at
all.
I ran by the school today, and was comforted that even though there's
not a soul I know attending that school, and my old teachers by and
large have made an exodus since my class left, that things are still
being run as usual. That's why I go back to Potsdam; it's my way to be
sure that, no matter how fucked up my world gets, there's still a frame
of reference, a town with neutral PH, waiting for the next catastrophe
to pass. A glacier could move right over this town, nobody the wiser.
That's why i come home.