When I was a primary school student, I wrote a lot of compositions about our hometown to appreciate its merits, its beauty and its culture, you name it. The affection conveyed in the compositions were more of perfunctory rather than genuine. I just wanted to finish my homework. However, as years goes by, the feeling has a subtle change. I gradually feel the love for it especially when I return from another place. I love the feeling of breathing the familiar air and with the wind whispering in my ears “welcome home”.

You may be quite familiar with the the old saying goes “East or west, home is best” and that is exactly how I feel about my hometown.

We went to go Guangzhou for our summer holiday and lived there for about a month. Life in the big city was definitely different from that in my small town. There are a lot of tourist attractions to visit and the night life was various as well. At the beginning, we were excited about the differences and enjoyed ourselves so much. However, gradually we felt something emerging in our minds. But what was it? We both felt puzzled one night when we were sitting on a long bench outside the supermarket to have a rest, watching people from all walks of life busying making their ways to somewhere. We were tired of the hustle and bustle. The whole city was like a never stop working machine. And so were the people living in it. Homesick ! yes, definitely, that was the word! We both relieve when we were aware of the truth. We terribly missed the quite atmosphere of our little town. Our town is like a human being who knows the way of keeping good health . She knows when to start a day and when to have a good rest for another better day. She is not as restless as the big city and she is mild and always knows to slow down to enjoy life. We both realized that although the city life was wonderful it was not what we crave for. We didn’t have a sense of belonging. Whatever the excitement city life had offered, they were the brilliantness of others not ours. We missed our little town so much.

The day after we returning home, we took a walk along the long corridor watching the quiet but sparkle surface of our mother river Huanggang River, we were filled with content and happiness. Maybe we have been living in our comfort zone for a long time and our bodies and minds are no longer suitable for the busy city life. Friends who living in the big city may think that we have miss so many wonderful ever changing new things but actually we do not! Happiness is not what you’ve got but rather how you feel.

My hometown complex makes me feel more about life itself, I.e. we sometimes need to slow down to enjoy our life.

Huanggang River黄冈河