Project: #GlimpsesofHome

Tomorrow morning my husband and I are boarding a flight to the USA and will be back home in Northeast Ohio for about two weeks.  We usually do this once a year to see family, visit the dentist, see our GP, touch base with our banker, and catch up with friends.  It's a hectic time, no matter how we try to make it as un-hectic as possible.  As the years pass, and this December will mark 5 years in Europe, our home leave trip grows in importance.  Even though we often travel to a new and exciting location once a month, that visit to humble Northeast Ohio is our favorite journey of the year.  For us, the day before the trip has the excitement of Christmas Eve.  Touching down at CLE airport, getting in the rental car, and swinging onto Rt. 480 E is like descending the stairs on Christmas Day.  We can barely contain our excitement.

For those that have never lived abroad for a long period of time, this probably doesn't make much sense.  Isn't living in Europe a dream come true? How can your grungy hometown with its abandoned factories, strip malls, high crime rates, and blighted neighborhoods compare?  Sure, on paper Akron falls short when stacked next to the picturesque village on the Main where we've been living for almost three years.  But, you know what?  It's Home.  Home, no matter where that is, will always have an edge over the most beautiful places on earth.

Usually during these trips I take a lot of pictures.  I generally don't do much with them except to document another magical home leave trip.  Last year, I did manage to get out a couple of days for some more traditional shooting which you can see here and here.

This year, I've decided to do a photo project during the trip.  It's part personal project, part documentary.  Every day, like always, I'll be taking photographs, but this year I'll be sharing many more with you!  As long as WiFi permits, I'll post two photographs to Instagram a day- one of my usual images that are posted daily, and one under the tag #GlimpsesofHome. Images under that tag will be of something or somewhere that is unique about Akron (or a location nearby) and it will probably have a little story with it too.  The goal of the project is to highlight what makes Akron and its environs so special to us, and why that area is worth visiting just as much as the other locations I've photographed in Europe.  Obviously, the biggest draw personally is the relationships we have there.  But, there are countless things about Northeast Ohio that make it special and worthy.  I'd like to show you some of them.  They won't all be scenic, so I ask you to bear with the variety of images I'll be posting.  Home is where our culture comes from.  It's people, food, music, common ground, language, art, and environment.  Our home is a typical small American city.  It's had its struggles, heck, it still has struggles.  But, it also has a lot of magic.  Slowly but surely, that magic is growing and things are changing.  We see it every year.  The place has soul.  Through this project, I'd like you to get a glimpse of that.

So, tune into Instagram to follow my #GlimpsesofHome project for the next two weeks!  Too often we focus on where we've been or where we're headed to next.  Sometimes it's best to turn our attention to where we're from.