• this world is not my home

Has anyone else done this? What has your experience been? What are the hardships? the joys? the things you didn't expect, both positive and not-so-positive?

Well, i havent actually returned "home" for good but i know that when i go for 3 months or so it is REALLY hard...i always want to come back to where I live. There are many factors but i know that if you have lived in a place for more than 4 years it really becomes your home.

I think one of the most difficult things for me is that I subconsciously expect everything to be how it was when I left, and that's a dangerous expectation. People grow, they change, neighborhoods end up different, stores stock different items, traffic changes (and signs and lights may be different).

For me, the most difficult part about trying to go back is running head long into my inappropriate expectations that everything will be the same as I remember it.