"It doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter where you go
If it's a million miles away or just a mile up the road
Take it in, take it with you when you go
Who says you can't go home?"
- Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home?"
It's true that life is a crazy journey. We start off in one place and then, in a blink of an eye, are led in another direction, one we could have never imagined.
Your education could take you across state lines, your dreams across the country and the search for love and inner peace across the globe. Setting out on a new journey in life is exciting, although it may seem scary to leave the only home, friends, family and community you know. But as a wise man once said, "A ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are made for."
Wherever your journey may take you, you will no doubt create a new life for yourself, for we must take risks and face our fears to achieve our goals. In no time you'll find your new life, a new favorite coffee spot, a new "happy place," new acquaintances and new friends. Like a tree, whichever direction you grow in and wherever life takes us, we must remember our roots and to stay grounded to the people who have helped us grow into who we are today. But "when things get to crazy and livin' life gets hard to do," know it’s always OK to find your way back home and return to those roots once again.
There is no shame in taking a step back and rediscovering yourself. There is a certain beauty in returning to the places where your fondest memories were made, to sit beside the people you hold dearest and to simply reflect in how far you have come and where you are going next. Home is comfortable. It’s a place where we slowly let the worries of our hectic lives melt off, where we are cleansed. We return to simpler times, ones that are carefree and filled with memories. We become vulnerable, our truest selves and whole once more among the people we love.
Going home is often nostalgic for many. In a sense, it feels as if no time has passed at all and everything remains just how we had left it before. Yet something is different—and little do we know it is us. We are the ones coming back changed. In our new adventures, we have seen new things, developed new perspectives and grown as individuals. That is what's different. You realize home is not a stagnant place immune to the effects of time. Instead, home lies in the arms of the people you love, and it is constantly evolving because the people you love follow their own paths of life and change just as you do. The beauty is found in the reunion. That is the true home—two hearts connected. Wherever you go, a piece of them is with you and you with them; when we live like that, home will be with us always.
