There's No Place Like Home

"Oh Baltimore, ain't it hard just to live..." - Nina Simone

I ADMIT, I had my challenges, growing up; but, truth be told, I do enjoy when I do get to come home and see the family.  One would think that since I live in New York, I would be in Bmore all the time...nope.  It seems that every time I plan to come back home, there is always some life event that pops up, causing me to postpone my travels.  Be it an important audition, meeting, last minute rehearsal, performance, or even the Actor hurdles of the financial persuasion - yes those moments have presented themselves in the past, but it's only circumstantial - it's sometimes not so one-two-three.

This weekend is different.  As I blog this very message, I am sitting in the living room of my childhood home, awaiting the arrival of my grandmother - mom's mom - who does not yet know I'm here.  I think I'm more excited than she's going to be.  This is one weekend that even Jonas itself couldn't disrupt, haha.. I kid, but I'm only serious.  Family is important though; it really is.  Being the only one in New York, sometimes I do get a little homesick, from time to time.  I very much enjoy my career and catching up with friends, when I can, but there really isn't anything like coming home and taking in a bit of nostalgia.  It's truly one place I feel that I can relax, even if I am trying to see as many family members as I can.  There's a different degree of peace I feel and it actually helps me to create.

Confession time: when I come home, it is when I am most likely to eat like a gluttonous kid.  I remember when I was a kid and we would go over my other grandmother's house.  She would always have something cooked or cooking, snacks and candies on the dining room table or in the cabinets, and my dad would have a field day.  All the while he'd warn us "don't go in your grandmother's house begging..." which usually meant not to ask for ANYTHING.  If we were offered, that was different.  The trick was getting grandma to pick up on our yearnings and say "y'all go in there and help yourselves before your father eats it all up."  Now I get to come home and have at it.  Speaking of which, there is a slice of mom's birthday cake that is calling my name.  I mean, I'll have a proper brunch, too, but i just want to make sure I still like it, so until soon...


#SmithDonnellE #DownWithDonny #LetMeBeMe