You Can Always Go Home

     A small baby girl enters the world. Her parents love her more than anything in the world. She is protected and cherished by not only her parents but her friends. She has been in the world for not even a year and she has friends who watch over her, smile with her, laugh with her, and love her with all their hearts.
     The baby girl grows up. She learns to crawl, walk, run, and her friends leave her for a while, but they come back. She missed them and they her.
     Her friends get married and have children of their own and she plays with her friends' babies, but they assure her they still love her. The little girl doesn't doubt their love because she still remembers. The stories they told her, the poems they read to her, the songs they sang to her, and the prayers they prayed for her and with her when she was small. She smiles big and knows that she is loved.
    One day the little girl, now a young woman, realizes the town she grew up in is too small. She packs everything she owns, kisses her parents, hugs her friends and their children, and says goodbye to her small town.
     The young woman attends college in a big city, this city is a hundred times bigger than her hometown. Here the young woman flourishes and every now and then she visits her hometown, her parents, and friends. But the visits become farther and farther apart until they stop all together.
     The young woman lives in a big apartment in the big city. Her city friends say she has everything she could ever want. The young woman smiles, but in her big apartment she feels lonely. With her new friends, she feels empty and at her important job, she feels tired. The young woman misses her small hometown, her old friends, and  her parents, but most of all she misses the love that she felt when she was with them. She cries to herself, believing her old friends have forgotten her.
     One day, the young woman receives an e-mail, she opens it, and she sees pictures of herself as a child with her friends and family. There is a upcoming party to celebrate her friend's father's retirement. The young woman stands, closes her computer, and packs a party dress.
     The large house stands before the young woman. Inside is her old friends, family, and those that she left behind. She is late to the party, but she cannot make herself walk into the house. A little girl darts out of the house and smiles. The young woman sees in the little girl the smile of an old friend, tears prick her eyes and the young woman takes the girl's out-stretched hand. The little girl leads her inside where everyone stops and stares. The young woman blushes and turns to leave, but the little girl's mother rushes forward, wrapping her long lost friend in a hug that squeezes every doubt out of the young woman. Everyone hugs the young woman and they welcome her back. She smiles as she congratulates the party's guest of honor on his retirement, but he says he doesn't care any more, he's glad she back where she belongs.
     The young woman returns to her big city, but she realizes how her life is void of true happiness, the happiness she felt in the arms of her family and friends.
     Several days later, the young woman knocks on a front door. She nervously shifts from foot to foot and when the door opens, two people stand at the door. The young woman asks her parents if she can come back and stay with them for a little while. Her mother presses a hand over her heart and tears fall down. Her father envelopes her in a hug and the young woman feels like a little girl once more. Her father tells her to stay as long as she likes. The young woman cries with her mother and she says to her parents, “I'm home and this time I'm not leaving.”