PLACES YOU MIGHT FIND ME IF I’M MISSING

Many years ago we spent some time in San Francisco. When I returned home, I told friends and family if I was ever missing that’s where I would be found. Not permanently, but for a short time. I loved visiting the Wharf, Ghirardelli Square and hanging on a cable car. The whole area was filled with happy people, mostly tourists who were enjoying each other’s company.

Another place I really wanted to run to was Vermont. After spending a month there, I thought if the family had known about Vermont earlier, that’s where we all would be living now.

Amsterdam is next. I felt the same excitement there as I did in San Francisco, but could probably stand it for only a month or so. People were traveling everywhere on their bikes and they seemed filled with joy. Or could it be the marijuana?

The Lake Como area in Italy was absolutely beautiful; the views were spectacular with the Alps just across the water. The people were very friendly and George Clooney could possibly have been a neighbor. I loved the cool weather and feeling like I was in another world, which you are when visiting there.

I never wanted to leave South Carolina and had hoped to live there again. But that was 25 or more years ago and when we drove through Columbia several years ago everything had changed, roads were congested and it was difficult to even find the way to our old home. Having lived there only three years, I wonder if anyone would even remember me.

To be practical though, the best place for me would probably be good old Pennsylvania, especially Ligonier and the town of Latrobe where I was born. I’d feel at home there and these towns have stayed the same as I remember from when I was young. Driving on any street, you’d still know where you were.

But the fact is you really can’t go home again. Any place we all are now is really home.