I've called a lot of places home over the years: Champaign, Vienna, whatever hotel I'm staying at during a vacation, but the only place that will truly ever be home is Glen Ellyn. As I start to become slightly homesick, I think of why this is and I couldn't tell you what it is exactly that makes this town forever home, but I'll try.
My parents always joked that everyone always moves back to this town, and for so long when I was younger I thought that was the craziest idea to ever be conceived. Why would you ever move back to where you grew up? Wouldn't you want to go out into the world and start a new life for you and a family? But over the years I thought about it and I realized how good I had it, I would totally want my kids to have a childhood similar to mine. The schools in the area are great, the safety of the town is basically unrivaled, and the community is tight-knit making you always feel welcome. And on top of it all, it's actually a really aesthetically pretty town as well.
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When I think of home I think of the smiley-face cookies at the Flour Barrel I'd get after I went shopping downtown with my mom as a kid. I think of the fireworks over the lake every Fourth of July. I think of cinnamon sugar Einstein bagels. I think of the castle on the hill. I think of home football games down by the lake. These memories bring me a lot of joy. When I go home I look forward to walking the dog around town, to biking on the prairie path, to walking around downtown with my friends. The best part is that no matter how old I get, none of that changes.
I remember seeing on Twitter a few years back a tweet saying something along the lines of, "everyone from Glen Ellyn is obsessed with Glen Ellyn" and, man, the older I get the more I realize it's pretty true. Glen Ellyn really was the best of both worlds though, it had a small town feel without actually being incredibly small. We still all knew each other despite the town being much larger than many rural towns. You really don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, and after being away for so long I'm starting to feel this.
Glen Ellyn provided me with so many great memories, and continues to give great memories to those who live there. Despite having many different schools within the town, the town never failed to unite people. Even if you went to different schools you could meet people through the different sports programs, jobs, and other recreational activities (the list of which was quite extensive) that were provided. But it was the people more than the programs that made it home. People were generally kindhearted. Staff would remember you at restaurants and make you feel at home. Everyone had so much pride in the local high school. There was always something to connect us as a town.
Maybe I miss my friends, maybe I miss my family, maybe I just miss the food on Roosevelt Road (particularly Los B's but beyond the point), but no matter why I may be homesick, it's Glen Ellyn I'm homesick for. No matter the fact that I no longer primarily reside there, it's where I consider home. It's some place I look forward to at summer and winter breaks and think of fondly, and I know I'm not alone on this one.
So thank you Glen Ellyn for giving me the best childhood I could have asked for. Thank you for hosting my family and many others and creating a town I like to come back to. Thank you for the friendships and the memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you for everything.
