Homecomings

You know what's cute about homecomings? Everything.

Everytime I come home, I feel like everything is getting smaller. Like here was this pond that used to be my ocean. Here was this Acacia tree that used to be so hauntingly huge, and now it's an old bald gentleman of a tree, shedding dead leaves and making the whole central Rotonda look like a good Indie Movie venue with golden brown leaves all over.

...and here I am. Who would have thought I'd come home and see that old rotonda with a smile that knows more than what I once claimed as a teenager. The head-carvings of that 1914 tower would laugh at my realizations. "So, what happened to setting the world on fire?" , one of them would ask, with an impending series of roast questions.

I would answer them " but I'm not done yet."

That's the cute truth about homecomings. You get older each time. You always take home with you all those wise thoughts that the years helped you make sense of, and you walk with your head a little higher every time.



Joj