Finding where we belong

"It doesn't matter where you come from, as long as you find where you belong" Martian Child
What makes those butterflies flutter in your stomach? What makes your heart skip a beat and causes you to gasp for air? You know the feeling. The one you had in senior school, when the hot sixth former walked past you in the corridor? Lava bubbling, sick making excitement.
Well apparentely, I get it when I'm coming home to Brighton. I got it on Monday. I was returning from 12 days in my birthtown and throughout the journey home, the butterflies were having a gala party in my tum.
My birthtown, which I shan't name because it is home to many lovely people who, I'm sure, have as much affection for it as I have for my home, is a little like Stepford.

Image from the film The Stepford Wives

If you follow this link, and read an article I wrote about individuality in Brighton, you will understand how lucky I feel to have lived in London and Brighton.

Image:  Brighton People in Words and Pictures

As John Cusack's character, David, said in the film Martian Child, "It doesn't matter where you've come from, as long as you find where you belong".
If we are lucky, we set up home where we belong.
If that isn't possible, we ensure we spend some time there. A friend of mine says he only feels truly at home when he is sitting in the Sacred Space at Glastonbury, during the festival. He works in advertising in London, has a loyalty card at Balans and wears delicious Ozwald Boateng* suits.

Image: Ozwald Boateng Suits from the V and A exhibit

But he is happiest for those six festival days.

Sacred Space at Glastonbury by Jam Frog on flickr

It is then that he feels he belongs, as he sits and watches everyone around him relax and enjoy the freedom of just being themselves.
And he gets butterflies in his stomach for months before the festival.

*  Wearing Ozwold's suits would make having to wear a suit very bearable.