Dear Flemington,

I’m so sorry for ever trying to push you away. The past 18 years of my life, I couldn’t stop complaining about you. I couldn’t stop dwelling on the overly quiet nights, the excessive number of farms, the fact that you were just so damn “boring” all the time. People loved you, and I could never understand why. I couldn’t wait to pack up my stuff and leave you for college, to move on to bigger and better things. I always swore I would never come back to you either.

Funny enough, it took me only about two weeks after getting to college for me to miss you. I was beyond confused when I got that first feeling of longing for a place I always wanted to get away from. I longed for your atmosphere again. I longed for driving down your windy backroads tucked away somewhere in the woods. I longed for your perfect, crisp autumn days that only seemed most beautiful with you. I longed for all the small things that I seemed to overlook about you before. Two weeks, and you already had me packing up my stuff again and making my first-weekend trip back to you. And I’m not going to lie, I made many more following that. But on that first trip home it dawned on me how literally nothing compares to the feeling of seeing the “next exit for Flemington” sign. It was amazing to finally have that sense of security and comfort back again.

Being back for spring break my freshman year of college, I realize now how much I took you for granted. You’ve given me everything I’ve ever needed, even if I failed to notice it at times. You gave me the Halloween nights trick or treating on Main Street as a kid, you gave me the Friday night ice skates all throughout middle school, you gave me the peaceful, cool morning runs in the summer, you gave me the best friends I could ever ask for, you gave me my first dog, my first school dance, my first job, my first everything. I can’t thank you enough for all of this. You are the place I identify with and the reason I am the person I am today.

When people ask where I’m from and I respond “Flemington, New Jersey,” almost every single person says they’ve never heard of you. And I know if people ever visited, they wouldn’t understand why I love you so much. 7 months ago, I myself could never even understand why anyone loves you so much. To most people, you’re nothing special-- just another normal town. But that’s ok because I know what you mean to me now. You’re more than just a town; you’re happiness, you’re memories, you’re peacefulness, you’re home.

As a wanderlust type person, I have never understood this concept of being “homesick.” I have never understood people telling me they’re “homebodies.” But being away at college has finally made it clear to me. I understand how you can so intensely miss a place that gave you so much to remember.

So here’s a huge thank you to you, the 908, for giving me a home to grow up in and to come back to, and a home that I wouldn’t trade for anywhere else in the world.

Love always,

A forever local