Coming (or going) Home

June 26, 2013

Every day I recognize a face.  I only occasionally have the opportunity to talk to the individual, as they trundle by in a car or truck, or I see them leaving a store just as I step up to pay.  And then I hear snippets of this person or that who is still living here, moved away but recently returned or may be visiting soon.  Three times already once upon students have stopped by the Youth to Youth classroom where I work to say hi, or express their surprise to see me here again.  I marvel at how much I am a part of and yet separate from this place.  Those who know me remember our time fondly and share a wish for me to stay longer and visit. At the same time life swirls on around me and I step into my own rhythms that benefit from the occasional visit, but they never last for long.  Our lives once intersected in important, inspirational and memorable ways, but now we live the lives we live that carry with them the residuals of that time but without the chance of repeating such an intense time together.  The most amazing part of this long connection with these tiny islands is that now I am the only person working at the Youth to Youth program who had serious and deep interaction with the founder, Darlene.  Those there now hear of her work and her passion and vow to honor it, but they will never feel the intensity of her presence.  It makes me oddly more deeply connected to the organization in some ways, while at the same time over the past decade, I have grown a little distant from it.  The islands have always been a lovely place of contradiction and connection.