You CAN Go Home Again

“If a man has talent and can't use it, he's failed. If he uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he uses the whole of it, he has succeeded, and won a satisfaction and triumph few men ever know.”
-- Thomas Wolfe

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One of my recent, previous residences is on my mind this late night: Asheville, N.C. And with that comes native son Thomas Wolfe, who did in fact eventually go home again, and now rests (at least in mortal form) in Riverside Cemetery. One has to think that Tom Wolfe used the whole of his talent, and one also hopes that he felt the satisfaction and triumph in the end. Though he's not on many reading lists these days (or as many as he should be), he still ranks right up there with Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner, the others in my "Big Four" of American Letters from that time period.

For Eleanor, our journey is all about "finding home," or a home that she can go back to -- never mind Tom Wolfe's most famous quote. Or, a home with doors that will open wide, with a welcome mat, with tea brewing on the stove, with cookies set out and a warm bed, and yes, kind faces that speak wonderful stories.

We mark our trail with words. Behind us are the words already written, and ahead of us, some words tossed in the air, haphazardly it would seem to anyone but us, and then fallen, like leaves. We'll follow those words in front, picking them up as we go, and we'll make something "better than good." The potential is within each of us, and only the deepest self can know how far we need to travel, or how deep we need to dig.

"We can dig a hole to China!" Eleanor says, and yes, perhaps we will. Perhaps we do need to dig that deep, and go that far ... to make the final turn for the home that's out there -- the one that's ours, that destiny and fate and the alignment of planets all agree on.

"Home" -- what a terrific word.