I left the town where I grew up when I was 18 to enlist in the Air Force and have never lived there since. Much of my family still resides in the area and I go back for family reunions, funerals, weddings and other occasions. Last weekend I went for a visit.
I always enjoy going back to that little town in Ohio and I certainly enjoy visiting family. They have a way of lifting me up and reminding me of where I came from. I have a very colorful family. Not all of them, but a few are real characters. I saw one of my nephews for the first time in years. He is the son of my more colorful brother. He has had a very tough stretch of years and it was so good to see him and to see him looking so well. He is 28 now and it was only yesterday he was 5 and standing in the upstairs window peeing on the dog in the backyard. I told you.....colorful.
Family is a wonderful thing. You don't get to choose them and try as you might you can never lose them. I have often envied people who live as adults in the same town they grew up in. A mere generation before mine and that was the norm. I missed my family often after I moved away, but no matter where life took me during those years, I could always find my way back home.
