There's No Place Like Home

Like a well-trained soldier marching in formation, time with its steady and consistent beat marches on in a very predictable order.

“Time waits for no man”, the saying goes.

Moments or experiences once held close to our hearts come and then go, eventually dipping below the horizon like the sun at the end of a spectacular autumn day.

Depending on the emotions attached to those experiences, they are easily recalled or they are stashed away in the attic of distant memories to be summoned at a later date.

Have you ever been homesick, I mean really homesick?

About a month ago someone sent me a video clip which featured my hometown, Pittsburgh, in a collage of movies filmed in and around The Golden Triangle.

The emotions it surfaced sincerely caught me off guard. Joyful tears formed out of sense of connection to Pittsburgh and the place I once called “home”.

A place I still call “home”. You can take the kid out of the “Burgh but you cannot take the “Burgh out of the kid.

The short video was precisely the respite needed for this particular day.

It was a few moments of mental vacation which allowed me to rummage through years of memories jogged by such familiar names or places as:

• Three Rivers – the Monongahela and Allegheny forming the Ohio.

• Bleeding “Black and Gold” as a follower of the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins.

• My sports heroes – Roberto Clemente, Mean Joe Greene, and Mario Lemieux.

• Attending sporting events at Forbes Field, Pitt Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, and the Civic Arena which gave way to PNC Park, Heinz Field, and the Consol Energy Center (I really want to go there!)

• Visiting Station Square, riding the Incline, or viewing the City from Mt. Washington.   

• Famous foods or food products in the form of Heinz ketchup, Clark Bars, and Primanti Brothers.

High school and college football season is in full swing. With it comes the invitation to former students to attend “homecoming” festivities.

Again, an invitation to think about the place you may call “home”.

Did you know I was once the “homecoming King?”

Trust me when I say, I was not part of the royal court on any of my merits.

Like a vice-presidential candidate, I was on the “Queen’s” ticket to have such an honor.

Perhaps Dorothy said it best as she tapped her ruby shoes together in The Wizard of Oz:

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

Most of us are caught up in our daily lives buzzing from here to there at breakneck speed, rarely sparing a moment to catch our breath.

When I was growing up, most of my family and friends stayed close to home.

Today, staying close to home is now a foreign concept.

It is a relic of a time which has passed as jobs and other responsibilities have led us away, no longer to return.

Can I make a suggestion?

At a minimum, mentally and emotionally, pay a visit to the place you may call “home”.

Take a trip down memory lane not to park there, but simply to remember.

Dwell on the good times you had. Allow the not-so-good times to roll on by.

If you are able to do so, plan some time to take a trip to return to your roots, visit old haunts, and reconnect with part of the fabric which makes up your tapestry.

Call an old friend. Visit your parents or an elderly relative. Find someone on Facebook who can immediately take you back to the “home” in your hometown.

I promise it will be time well spent.

Reconnecting is healthy for you!

Allow the sweet scent of your memories to wash over you and to transport you momentarily back to a time where cares were minimal and life was good.

It is worth the price of admission for this reason alone!

You too may find yourself, like Dorothy, saying: “There’s no place like home!”

Where is your hometown and when was the last time you were there or connected with someone who still is there?