We have all heard this age old question. In different forms. In poems, stories and quotes by famous people.
Can we ever really go home again?
I am finishing up a two week vacation in the state where I was born and I know I am fortunate that my family here is in good health, that I’ve been able to see a lot of family and friends I haven’t seen in a long while and that I have had a wonderful time. But it brings up the question. Can I, or anyone else, ever really come home again to resettle once we have left and lived somewhere else?
My thought is that once people leave we tend to romanticize the past, enjoy the visits back immensely and sometimes think, “What if?” But it could never really be the same.
How could it? The cast in the play is different. People have died, divorced, moved away, children have grown and that totally changes the old landscape that we remember.
Why do we even entertain the thought that we could retire to the regions of our youth? Because the stresses of today’s life make us long for that time when things and people seemed so simple. And also because we forget that the future will be different from our past. The older members of our family and our best childhood friends won’t be there when we are old. So it will be different.
Now, I am not saying that everyone should stay away from the towns or areas in which they were raised. Maybe some people can go back and make it work but they need to understand that the past cannot be recreated. The glory days are gone. You need to create a new present with hopefully some of the old elements. And enjoy the spouse, children, grandchildren, relatives and friends surrounding you.
I loved every place we lived and look back fondly. And I loved the people even more. Paradise alone is never paradise. Right now, I am good and firmly rooted in the present and making the best of it. Yes, and sometimes I still say, “What if?”
So I guess there is a bit of the unknown for people like me who have left their childhood homes and moved somewhere else. Exciting yet unsettling.
And that brings up just one more question.
Where on earth do we end up if we cannot ever go home?
“Farewell, England! Blessings on thee–
Stern and niggard as thou art.
Harshly, mother, thou hast used me,
And my bread thou hast refused me:
But ’tis agony to part:”
Tell me how you feel after your upcoming trip to the mother country…
Far away– oh far away–
We seek a world o’er the ocean spray!
We seek a land across the sea,
Where bread is plenty and men are free,
The sails are set, the breezes swell–
England, our country, farewell! farewell!”
Having been one who had moved away & returned to New England I can only say that Yes, it is possible to return home. Not to live in the past, but to be surrounded by the familiar…people, places, food etc.
Did you bring a camera to the reunion?