Day 102: Oh Shenandoah

The days away from home are starting to take their toll. As a hobbit I am naturally a homebody. I can’t stand being away from my hometown for long periods of time. Though I love the mountain my college is on, my heart forever belongs to the pastoral rolling hills of Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Shenandoah. 

My walk was gorgeous. The trail was abandoned save for me and a few chipmunks. The mountains surrounded me, with the sun peeking out from behind grey clouds. The river far below glinted in the morning light. A chilly breeze toyed with my skirt and the leaves of changing colours. My cloak protected me from the chill of the early morning as my breath escaped in white puffs, a short vapor in the wind before it was gone. 

For some odd reason I decided to take my MP3 player with me on my walk. As I was heading away from campus and back into the mountains the old folk song “Oh Shenandoah” played. I stopped dead in my tracks. That song is one I have associated with home ever since I was a little girl. My family would take holidays and hiking trips up at Skyline drive in the mountains. Almost every trip I remember a local band playing that song. The mountains I grew up in surrounded the Shenandoah Valley. This was home come to haunt me when I was missing it the most.

I’ve often wondered if Frodo ever missed the Shire. Nostalgia, melancholy, and homesickness are all powerful and profound emotions. Given that Frodo was still in love with the Shire when he left, it would seem likely that he missed his home. There is much evidence throughout the books that Sam missed the Shire greatly. One such proof is Sam’s attachment to his pots and pans; another is that Sam carries seasonings from the Shire in a little box. Just in case, Sam assures. The idea that Frodo and the hobbits loved and dearly missed the Shire is both a heartwarming and a melancholy one. The hobbits left to protect the Shire, and throughout their journey there is evidence that they want to go back to the Shire and the way things were. The melancholy part is that hobbits would never go back see the Shire the way it was. They would fight for their beloved home, but each with some dread that they would likely never see it again. The hobbits were willing to give up their home in order to save it. This idea will come into play for Frodo and Sam at the end Tolkien’s epic in what I consider to be one of the saddest moments of the book; but more on that later. 

For right now, it is enough for me to realize that the hobbits very likely missed home, missed their friends and the way things were. They loved it enough to sacrifice their lives for it and those they knew and held dear. The hobbits, along with many of Middle Earth, were going to war to save their world, their home. 

I am not faced with such a prospect. Home is still there and nothing much, except population growth, is threatening it. I can still go back when I want to; I can see those I’ve left behind. But I’m still filled with such nostalgia and melancholy when I think about it; after all, I left my heart there. How much more did the hobbits miss their home, the home they were willing to die protecting, the people they were willing to lay their lives down for, the future they were trying to secure knowing there was a possibility they wouldn’t be there to see that future? 

The road goes ever on and on,
~ Daisy Buttons