Recently, I made a trip back to my hometown on work-related business.  My co-workers who prepped all the mail that I was to deliver, offered suggestions and tips about the delivery route.  In the back of my mind I thought this would be a piece of cake since the area was one that was quite familiar.  It was where I grew up and spent my entire childhood educational experience.  After graduation, this hometown receded into my past with no thoughts to return for any significant reason.

Of course, life happens and there are events that occur making it impossible to avoid the hometown completely.  I had been back for funerals, family events and the occasional pass thru to another destination.

This time, it was business and no way around spending a significant amount of time reacquainting myself with the places buried deep into my memory, long forgotten and left to age like a fine wine.  The ghosts of my childhood, those melodies that shaped an impression of a place I learned to loathe yet secretly longed to accept required closure of a childhood of confusing and painful treatment.

Do you ever wonder how the daily interactions with schoolmates could leave scars about your self-worth that would take a lifetime to unravel and heal?  I thought by leaving it all behind, life could go forward and those scars as open-wounds no longer were at the surface, no longer had to be revealed as I walked down the hallways to each class.

As an adult, I learned nothing can stay buried and nothing heals without facing the demons and slaying them until they dissolve.  These actions become the rungs of the life ladder to maturity.

Driving the old familiar streets and learning many new streets created in the years that passed, memories flooded my brain.  There were happy memories, sad memories and ones that struck a sore spot still lingering in my soul deep down.  It made me wonder about these unannounced feelings.  Then it struck me, I am in the right place with this opportunity to heal old wounds and move forward.  How many of us have the opportunity to heal and say goodbye to old wounds.  Wounds we did not realize still lingered.

My day in the hometown ended on a positive tract, leaving me empowered and thankful for the opportunity to spend an entire day, exploring the entire town, and bringing up all that I had thought was long forgotten.  It was cathartic and important for me to go back in time.  The adage, “you can’t go back home”, may have its place, but in this instance, going back home was enriching and on my list of one of the best things I had ever done for myself.  I learned that taking care of business not only means the requirements of a job, it means that life needs to be taken care of head-on so issues can be put to rest for good. Those hometown flashback melodies are playing the same ole songs for a reason.  Turning down the sound only keeps them around longer.  Finish each song on your terms before moving on.  The now and future have so much in store without the interference of the past.