Beautifully put.

I love my home town. It's lovely, quaint, and consistently ranks somewhere on the "best places to live in" surveys. I was really fortunate to grow up there, even if I didn't realise it at the time.

I flew the nest, found my own path, and moved around a bit. I've settled six hundred miles away - and with the numbers of folk in my family slowly starting to dwindle, I'm finding fewer and fewer reasons to go back home.

I miss my formative years, but rather than grieve for them, I'm thankful for growing up somewhere that gave me a lot of joy and good memories. I may not have grown up where I am now, but it's where my other half and my kids are, and that's home now.

Also, some things haven't changed, but should have.

Yeah, the kitchen smells the same, mom's laugh is the same, dad's still using the same chipped mug.

But, dad's prejudices haven't changed, they've only calcified a bit more. Mom's learned helplessness has only gotten worse. The old disagreements never got resolved, they just got shelved, ready to be taken down again when the time comes.

Plus, the parents think that you, their kid, hasn't changed. They still see you as helpless and in need of their guidance, even when they're having increasing difficulty navigating the world because things are changing too quickly for them to handle. Hence the old meme of "take your resume, walk right into that office, and demand a job!"

I get the appeal of nostalgia, and it's sometimes fun to pretend that things haven't changed, but it's better to realize that time keeps marching forward and try to adapt to the new situation.