You can (always) never go home again

We're home right now.  Not home as in Wichita, home as in The Soo.  It's under unfortunate circumstances as A's grandfather passed away last weekend.  So while were home, I took advantage to get measurements taken for the wedding of my best friend which is taking place this summer.  Its nothing major, something I've done many times before.

What was funny about it was that it was at the one tuxedo shop in our hometown.  When I walked in I had to smile to myself because I remember going there in high school and getting measured for winter formal and for prom.  It was such a grown up and exciting thing to do.  Now?  Who cares.  While I stood there and had the tape measure run around me and up and down my leg, I started thinking about hometowns and the old saying 'you can never go home again.'.  It's fun to come home a couple of times a year and see family and drive around town and see what things have changed and what things mostly haven't changed.  Small towns do not have major changes.  A few years ago, an Applebee's came into town and holy shit you would think that was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Can you go home again?  Thinking about living and working in my hometown makes me wince a little bit.  Not that it's a bad town, I love it.  It's small and stuck in a rut traditional.  It's a place to raise a family.  Small enough to know a lot of people, but big enough where you do not run into everyone you know every time you go out to the grocery store.  The problem comes with growth.  How long can one go knowing that the newest restaurant in town is an Applebee's?  When will the next new business get here?

Can you go home again?  Living outside of your hometown should come with a sort of expiration date for return.  A hometown return policy of sorts.  After three years, you cannot go home without seeing it in a different light.  Living in a city with close to five hundred thousand people changes your view of your hometown of fourteen thousand.  There are less options for shopping.  Less options of eating (although there are more local restaurants and less chains, which is great).  But more options for closeness.  More options for learning to live again in a small town.

Can you go home again?  Living in a town that you longed to get out of.  I'm sure most people growing up in a small town think of one thing.  How long til I get the hell out of here?  Branching out, finding a new city.  The bright lights and big city living.  It's nice for a while, but then you start to compare.  Your hometown starts to look better and better as the glitz and glam wear off and you become just another drone in the big city.

Can you go home again?  To get out is one thing, but to get back in is another.  What would drive someone back home?  Homesickness.  Lack of a job.  Falling out with the city life.  Some people are wired to love the small town.  Anything outside the city limits is only worth seeing and not living.  Once you get back, its all about readapting to the small town living.  It can be tough and it would only be a matter of time before you would forget about all the highways, the skyscrapers, and the hustle and bustle.

Can you go home again?  Yes.  Yes you can.  No matter what anyone says, there will be a part of you that can never leave.  A part of you that will want to get back.  A part of you that will will you to stay.  And a part of you that will want you to get the hell out once you get back.

You can always go home again.  Anyone who thinks different is full of shit.