Reflections on Home
It’s a little past the halfway point of my short trip home and I’m relieved to say that so far it’s been a great experience.
I’ll be honest - I was more than a little apprehensive about coming home after such a long time away during which I feel I’ve changed and grown so much. Yeah I miss my friends and family but it’s a scary thing to come to terms with the fact that life goes on without you or that the different version of you coming back might not be so easily accepted as you had hoped.
And (what’s scary for me is) I’m not sure what I had hoped to get out of this trip. I thought it might be to relax a little, maybe to get some work done over a nice plate of home cooking instead of the Ramen that usually keeps my stomach company during the long nights at school.
Wishful thinking.
But this evening I had a particularly poignant reunion that made me realize quite suddenly why this trip has been such a blessing, and I think in truth, why I really needed to make this trip out here:
It is such a privilege to be able to come face to face with some of the most influential architects of my character and actually get the opportunity to say thank you; to explain just what they have done for me and how their words and examples have stayed with me when I needed it most, shaped my decisions and been partly responsible for my happiness.
Be they parents or pillars, being able to understand and appreciate the support they give and to articulate it back has been an amazing experience and I’m floored at the feeling it inspires in me. Being able to express my gratitude adds another dimension to the satisfaction I already feel from these existing relationships and it serves as another benchmark in the on-going, reflective learning process I call my life.
And it’s also the ideal closure that I think I really needed with this beautiful city that I will always love for all the memories it has given me and all of the lessons it has taught me.
It’s been a good run, Chicago.
