Oh, Hull

Days till LA: 4

As many of you know, my thoughts on Hull are "shifty" at best. During the winter, I always feel like I'm entering The Dead Zone, so to speak; it's cold, it's often snow-covered, and the only thing to do in town is to get shitfaced at one of our many luxurious bar establishments with everyone you and your parents graduated with. Like the Red Parrot, housed, suitably, in a screaming shade of mauve:

(And yes, I had my Bat Miztvah reception there.)

But in the summer, the town comes alives - mostly due to the fact that we lucked out along the way and ended up with an amazing beach. But there's something almost, dare I say, magical about Hull in the summer. I think I feel this way because I've lived so far away for 5 years now, and coming back to Hull in the summer has always meant a 3 month vacation for me.

My summers are usually, quite frankly, amazing; my mom and I wake up early and have coffee out on the porch, enjoying the fact that Massachusetts is capable of warming up for a few months of the year. Then we go for a long walk either around Strait's Pond, or along the length of Nantasket Beach, and then spend the rest of the day relaxing on said beach, down on J Street where we both really grew up. I go back for a nap, we have dinner and a cocktail, and then I go out with some of the fabulous people that I've kept in touch with all these years.

Nantasket Beach, with it's lovely... er, shrubbery

Everything seems welcoming, somehow; the days are hot, the beach is perfect, and there's no stress. I'm genuinely happy to see people and catch up, and while I love the city and would never contemplate moving back to the suburbs, it's nice to get a break from it all. Sitting on my back porch, surrounded by all the trees and greenery, it's very easy to get the illusion that we're not only 20 minutes from the city.

And in the summer, when the streets aren't cold and barren and gray, everything seems bright and happy and... I don't know, idyllic, I suppose. In the winter the carousel looks sort of like an uptight tortoise that is attempting to hole itself off until the warm weather comes, but in the summer it's open and welcoming and I have to remind myself that I'm not 5, so riding it several times in a row becomes creepy, and makes parents want to call Chris Hansen and get the To Catch a Predator team down here, stat.



It was different, when I moved to DC, because I could come home whenever I wanted. Which isn't to say I took advantage of that, since I usually only came home on Thanksgiving and Christmukkah, but it was nice knowing that I was... $75 and an 8 hour Amtrak ride away. And sure, it takes less time to fly from LA to Boston than it took to train it from DC to Boston, but there's also a several hundred dollar price difference in there, and the whole fact that flying reduces me to a quivering mass of fear and terror.

Unless I'm popping Ativan, which reduces me to a quivering mass of jelly that is highly suggestible to just about anything. Anything.

Anyway.

I'm ridiculously, ridiculously excited about LA, and I have absolutely no doubts, but I do have to admit that for the first time, I will genuinely miss Hull. Since childhood, Hull summers have been a staple in my life. And yesterday, while my mom and I were out for a walk, it hit me that I only have four more days of this; only four more days to see all my friends here, only four more days to enjoy Nantasket Beach, and only four more days to spend time with my family. Yeah yeah yeah, call me a pussy, but my mom is, idk, my BFF Judy, and Jazz is the only thing that's ever inspired maternal instincts in me, and I even love seeing my brother, bless him.

And the summer is supposed to be our time - I'm supposed to spend June through August on the porch, out on the beach, at the townie bars with everyone I've ever met here. And I won't have that this year. This summer, Hull will go on without me. My mom will spend time with her friends and zone out at the beach, and everyone here will go on with their summer plans, and I don't know - it's strange to think about. I'm not one for conventional emotions, but it's all only sinking in now.

I think it's because, at this time of year, I've always come home and nested for a few months, and just enjoyed pretending like I wasn't an adult yet, and I could come hide away in this safe place for just a little while longer. And sure, at first I'd planned on being in DC throughout the summer, and moving once my lease was actually supposed to be up (November 1st) but now that my plans have changed, and I've spent 2 weeks already doing the things I usually do... well, I'll miss it. There, I said it: I'll miss Hull. And all the wonderful things that Hull summers bring with them.