"You Can't Go Home Again"

"You Can't Go Home Again" -- meaning you can’t recover the past. This saying is the title of a novel by the twentieth-century American author Thomas Wolfe. And, he's right -- you cannot recover the past when you do go home. So, the reality is that it is hard to go, to confront one's past and see how it has shaped you today. It is fraught with sadness, and regrets and "I wish"es, and some thoughts that bring a smile or tear. So, do you put it out of your mind in a little box that you don't dare open up? Or are you so bold that you may hope to be able to go home and be whatever you have become. I don't know the answer.
I did go home this weekend and, subsequently, my mind is reviewing it all. Perhaps, in the days that follow, I will forget most of it, as I have been conditioned to do all these many years. Isn't that sad?
While I do reflect on the past few days, I am blessed with a beautiful cactus flower, probably the very last one of the season. Tonight, it is opening slowly and gracefully in the light of a full moon. That is truly a glorious greeting for its one night of beauty. If only we could all receive such a wonderful welcome.