The Road Home

                 I have been told that, “You can never go home again.” Yes that does come from a famous poet/ writer. I could tell you the author and poem, but what fun would that be. It is far more interesting and educational for you to find it. Sorry, the old teacher in me shows through at times.   Or is it the old sergeant, I’m not sure which it is.

            At one time in my life, I believed the quote to be literal. I scoffed at it. No matter where I traveled too, or how long I was gone. My family and friends were there to welcome me with open arms. Granted, there was an occasional smack to my cranium for not writing or calling. All worries and hurt feelings were soon forgotten, as we caught up on news and compared adventures. There has never been a time when I felt I couldn’t go home to my family.

            Recently, I began to understand the author better. I took a drive around the area where I grew up. I was raised in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. It was beautiful and wondrous place to grow up in.  There were fields and mountains that we explored to our hearts content. Everyone either knew you or your parents, not which was always a good thing when you weren’t on your best behavior. There was no escaping the small town community.

            I left there looking for life and adventure. There have many times I missed my childhood home. However, it wasn’t as much the people and place that I missed. It was the life that I missed. Things were simpler when you were a youth. The pressures of family and work had not come to bare upon your shoulders. Everything always seems better when you don’t have bills to pay. The world was bright and filled with endless possibilities and futures. Places we knew would last forever.

            Most of those places are gone, replaced by more modern buildings. Even some of the characters we loved as children are long gone. Many of the farms and fields have been replaced by homes and businesses. The quiet country lanes have been replaced by modern roads and highways. Some of the same families are still there, however they are caught up in the fast-paced world of modern America.

            The understanding of the quote is clear now. My family and friends will always welcome me. It is just that things will never be as they once were.  I am no longer that chubby little boy, filled with fantasies and ideas of heroics. I have seen the darkness and stood in the light. Things like that change you. As you change, so does the world around you. I can always go home. It just won’t be to the home I knew before I grew.