suffering withdrawl from CP --normal or not?

A little background: I have worked for two Cedar Fair parks for a combined 9 years (since a week after my 15th birthday), but now I am about to graduate from college and so I have a job in my city. The weird thing is, last year I was super happy to leave CP since working there for 9 years out in the hot weather, with rude customers gets old. I mean, I've always loved working in the theme parks, but sometimes you have to move on in life. Well, I have moved on to a more "adult" job, but I find that lately, since the weather has gotten warmer, I've been having withdrawl. I miss everything about the parks: my American and international friends, Sandusky, swimming in the lake in the warm weather, the noise and overstimulation of the lights and people and constant goings-on in the park. I miss living around hundreds of other people in the Cedars and even the nasty storms that we get at night and the bugs that we sometimes get inside the dorm.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal or if you have had similar feelings? Like I said, I've always loved working in the park, but being homesick for it doesn't seem normal to me. Has anyone else felt like this?

Two things:

1) Doing anything for 9 years and then stopping will make you feel like you are missing it.

2) Once you come to terms with yourself being an adult, everything you did when you were younger will feel like something you will never get to do again and you will miss it.

Number 2 is the reason I made my "big kid job" something I did a lot as a teenager. So I could always hang on to a bit of my younger self. :)

I only worked there for one year and I miss it every year about this time. I agree with 99er and the 2nd point.

If you have weekends free in the fall come be a Screamster. you can still have your "adult" job durning the week and still have fun with some awsome people on the weekends. Its not going to be the same as working there through the summer but still might get you back in touch with what your missing!

Ditto. Having done the seasonal thing for one year and the Screamster thing for 9, being a Screamster definitely satisfies that feeling. It's not exactly the same, but some of the best times I've had has been working Halloweekends. Plus the people are great too.

I ended my four year career at CP about 14 years ago now and I still miss it...generally on opening day of each season. But, I don't miss it too much the other 119 operating days and I REALLY don't miss it from about August 15th to Labor Day.

Its been 5 years now since my departure from CP. I usually catch the bug right around opening day wanting to go back for fun. After that I just buy my season pass and the wife and I try and get down there about once a month and just enjoy being the guest and not the employee.