Got back to Texas from PA last night after seeing the family for a few days. We lucked out with the weather and had no delays while flying and had only carry-ons, so no stranded luggage.
The longer I am away from home, the less it feels like "home". At times I think it would be nice to move back, but things just aren't the same. Everyone has jobs and kids and inlaws and is too busy etc. etc. etc. The folks are getting older and I can see it each time I go back, when I was younger, they just seemed to stay the same age. There are more new prescriptions on their kitchen table for various ailments each time I go home. 15 degrees seems colder than it used too, the wind off Lake Erie blows harder than it used too, my old bed is too soft and the pace of life seems to have ratcheted up a few notches in my home town. I guess it's time to consider where we live now as "home", never thought I could get used to that, but the longer we are here, the more true it is. It was nice to see everyone but it was equally as nice to come back to our own house, our own bed and our own vehicles, our own life.

~probablyhadonetoomanyRob

 

I know how you feel. Except my family has slowed down considerably. My grandpa has only 30% of his heart left, my uncle only has 3% of the movement in his hip (he weighs 350 or so) and recently took up smoking, my other uncle is in bad health (heart problems), and we think my grandma is either going nuts or has the beginning stages of alzheimers. It's really sad to see. Most of them aren't even 50 yet (except the grandparents). I've been away at college for 3 months straight and when I went home, it just didn't feel like it used to. It was almost like I was in a different place. Kinda sad really. I miss home.

 

I took a trip back up to the pacific northwest this past summer to re-visit Bremerton Washington. I was stationed there in drydock for a year and absolutely loved it.
When we got there this year I could not believe how much the "town" had changed! In 1978 it was a small Navy town, it is now a very large and busy city!!! the old main street out of the Navy Yard gate used to be full of shops and sandwich places, we hung out there for hours on end. It is now boarded up and looks to be getting ready to undergo a major facelift.
In talking to my wife about it I told her that I was really kind of sad that the town had changed so much! I guess I fully expected it to be just like it was 26 years ago...it is really true, we can't go home again

 

It's called getting old my friends, its called life. Live it to the fullest, each day is a gift. The older I get the more important family becomes.

One thing is for sure, when you are about to meet your maker you will never have to appoligize for having spent too much time with your kids, or your parents. On the other hand you might have some explaining to do for spending too much time here on DTR!

 

I go back to Pa every now and then to visit the folks (literally, the people on my mothers side are Folk) but I like getting back to my home in Virginia now. I just say that was where I was raised and Virginia is my home. Not much to do back there as far as jobs. Great place to retire though, living is cheap.

 

I have been back home a few times over the past 20 yrs and absolutely NOTHING has changed except for me. It has become a neat place to stop in to see old friends but after 2-3 days ... I remember why I got out of there in the first place.

Geico is right ... each day is truly a gift that should be enjoyed to the fullest. Sometimes we lose sight of that.

Cheers,
PISTOL

 

I don't know why but these remind me of one of my dad's favorite quotes, "Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone."
Nat

 

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

 

I HATE going back home now-a-days. The town where I grew up has changed so much, there's nothing familiar there anymore. When we were kids, we used to hunt and run a 5 mile trap line. NOW, if I tried to follow the route we trapped, I'd be walking thru housing developments and condo complexes. And if I was carrying a shotgun, I'm sure someone would be reporting a mad-man on the loose!

My town had 1800 people in it when I was growing up, and I knew all of them. Now it has 6300 and if I know 100 of them, I'm doing good. Some of the older folks that have lived there all their lives have been forced to sell their homes, because their property taxes are quadruple what they ever had to pay on their mortgages, and they can't afford to stay there anymore. 1 acre building lots, IF you can find one, are selling for $350,000 now. Average taxes on a single family, 2 bedroom home are around 9 grand a year.

You're right, you CAN'T go back home again... I can't afford to!

chaikwa.

 

Well, I moved back home to Kansas in October of 2001 right after 9/11. I was sick of Florida and sick of me. Both of my parents are gone and now I'm living in a trailer in my brother's back yard. The old home town is just a shell of it's former glory though and I can't wait till my finances improve enough for me to get out. I'm looking to move to Nevada next and try to make a living in gold prospecting.

You can't go home again because home isn't where you were but where you are and where you want to be. Home is where the heart is. Color me still restless.

Edwin