Remembering Who You are Before it’s Too Late
Resurrecting the parts of yourself you have forgotten
I’m out with lanterns looking for myself. -Emily Dickinson
Coming home. No words are more beautiful.
I have been searching for home for 50 years. Last year I found it in the mountains of North Carolina. I am finally home. For the first time since I was a child I have a sense of belonging to a place.
But now it is time for a different kind of homecoming. It’s time for me to allow the parts of myself I have abandoned to come home. These are the parts that have been pushed aside, hidden, or completely forgotten. These parts are the authentic parts that are needed in order for me to be whole.
Why do we abandon parts of ourselves? Sometimes others tell us our dreams are foolish and out of reach. Once, when I was 16, I went to a Jaguar dealer and convinced the salesman to let me drive the 1979 XJ6. It was my dream car. When I got home and told my father what I had done, he laughed at me, mocking me. He said I would never own a Jaguar and it was ridiculous for me to think I could.
As life went on, there were other dreams I had that were not supported or were cruelly snatched away by those who wanted me to keep my feet on…
