Memories of Homer burn bright

Some say that memories from youth (are) the brightest one. I spent the summer of 1995 in Homer. Now I’m 40, happily married with two boys and I believe that everything in my life has gone so well. But yesterday I suddenly stumbled over one image from Google Earth: Misty Skyline Drive. Just like in those days. Beautiful, alluring, mysterious. And I felt homesick for a country that even wasn’t my own. For a town of three months. Have I ever left  Homer? Or I still ride a bike on its steep streets, buy a Coke at Eagle, fishing with Steve, volunteering in Pratt Museum and sometimes just sit by the lake looking at ducks? Homer for me is a place where I feel like home, a place where I want to be again. Place of real happy life. Will I ever visit Homer again? Sure I will. 

Always in my heart, 

Greg Smolyak 

Khabarovsk, Russia