You Can't go Home Again.

June 20, 2005 10:16 PM (Gatineau)
June 21, 2005 11:16 AM (Japan)

They always say you can't go home again, that things will be different when you return.

I know that was true to an extent where Ottawa was concerned. Things seem very different here since I got back, despite working for the same company I did for years before I left. My friends are different, they have new friends/girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/children. People I expected to see a lot when I got back barely respond to messages I send them, or don't respond at all.

What about Japan though? I often think about what it would be like to return to Japan in a few years. I love the idea of seeing my friends there again, maybe getting everyone together to go to Ram again (our favorite restaurant). Meeting my students again and seeing how they've grown up. I've come to accept that it will never happen though.

About half the people I knew over there are already back in their home countries now. Jen has moved to a new part of the country. My students have a new teacher, I will be forgotten just as Scott was before me. I accepted all this, I knew it would happen before I left in the first place.

I always thought that someday I'd return to Japan though, and visit my little town. Maybe come back there someday when I'm married and show my wife where all the adventures I talk about started. Shimodate.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic today, so I tried to search the Internet for pictures of Shimodate. I know there are some because I looked at them before I left Canada originally. I found something else instead. I found out that Shimodate no longer exists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimodate

Barely a month after I left Shimodate merged with other little towns to create Chikusei. I know you can never go home again...but for crying out loud it's not supposed to be that literal!