Going Home

Anyone that knows me, or that has read some of my blogs knows I'm always speaking of home. Home to me is a dirt road just off Springy Banks Road in East Hampton,New York. This dirt road didn't have a name that we were aware of  until the post office people told my Father he had to put up a mailbox. Then it became Hunting Lane. To the best of my knowledge it is still a dirt road. I lived on this road for 18 years.
In the summer of my eighteenth year I joined the Navy and left home forever.
I was thinking about this the other day when it occurred to me that I have now lived in Greensboro,Maryland longer than my childhood home. I have two sons that because of my Navy career have lived  in various states.Virginia,Connecticut,Louisiana and then Maryland. They went to grade school and graduated High school here in Maryland. If you ask them they would tell you Maryland is home. One now lives in upstate New York and the other is still here in Greensboro.
So the question arises,where is home? I know all the cliche answers.Home is where the heart is,wherever I hang my Hat etc. I was just thinking what if you grew up in an orphanage or something like that,would that be home? If you moved a lot,like my sons,where is home? They say Maryland but could have justified saying any other state. I'm thinking home is wherever your childhood memories live. Mine all live on Hunting Lane.
That was my world. The place where I was most comfortable. The place I felt safe and secure. When the big old world tried to overwhelm me I just went home.
Throughout my Navy career I thought I would go home. When this hitch is over I'm going home. I even tried doing that once. I got out and went home. Problem was,home wasn't there anymore. The house,Mom and Dad were still there but it wasn't home anymore. I got a good job right on Main Street but had to rent a house. The key there was a "house" it wasn't home. Circumstances arose and I went back into the Navy.
Married with children and moving from place to place every three to four years I still thought about going home.Toward the end of my career ,about the last eight years,I wanted the boys to grow up in a nice little
town,like mine. Greensboro fit the bill nicely. A small town on the eastern shore close to the water. A good school and not too far from larger cities. Mostly farmers,a good wholesome place to raise kids.

I retired and have been here ever since. Went home for a visit some years back. Wasn't many there that I knew anymore. The old house was still there with strangers living in it. I did get to take a tour of it though and am grateful for that. Walked up that dirt road just like I had so many times in my youth. There were a few new things but mostly it was unchanged. I plan on making at least one more trip. Our high school class reunion celebrating forty years is coming up. I'm looking forward to going home.

My dog,waitin' for me.
He is buried under the pine tree !