It’s funny how much your brain can play tricks on you when you return to the place you grew up, fell in love for the first time, and began your adult life.
I went back there this past weekend – I go often, but this time was different, this time nearly marks a decade since I left for real. In 10 years so much can change.
So many memories of a time and place that was wonderful because of that place for that time.
Sometimes I struggle, I feel like I was an entirely different person back then, I had a boyfriend who was around for seven years, several close groups of friends, and I felt like I was part of a community.
With the struggle I’m having with my current job/life/situation, it’s easy to feel like I gave up so much to start this path – I said goodbye to so many people on that journey forward, without really thinking about what I was doing.
A friend of mine looked at me staring out over the ocean. “Come back,” he said.
But I can’t because things will never be the same as they were – that’s why you can never go home again.
And even if I could, go back to the way things were, it wouldn’t make me happier because I know too much, have seen too much, to ever be happy in the place I was 10 years ago.
So I have to look forward, keep creating a new life for myself and walk the path that was set for me.
Rules for living 