"Try as we might, happy as we were, we can't go back."
A while back I re-watched the BBC miniseries North & South at which one particular scene stood out to me. There came a point where the heroine has been given the chance to return to her former life which she thought she had missed so dearly and upon attempting to go back to her that way of life she discovers that life's experiences have changed her and returning to the life she once knew wasn't possible because she had changed.
I suppose this particular scene stood out too me because it was something with which I found it easy to relate. It seems in the last few years I make it to December and look back over the year and find that many things have occurred that have challenged me, caused me to grow and changed me over the course of the year. This year for some reason seems to be on the fast track. Either that or all of those lessons from the past several years seem to be coming together finally. Whatever the reason I find myself in April looking at 2011 thinking I never imagined getting to the end of the year and being where I am just a quarter of the way through.
But back to the starting quote, "Try as we might, happy as we were, we can't go back." Out of a two part mini-series this was the one line that stood out to me and has stayed with me weeks later. I think probably because to me it sums up life and reinforces something I learned this last summer. When traveling back from Atlanta, I happened to pass the exit for Bardstown, KY. Remembering the visit to My Old Kentucky Home with my family when I was young I decided to stop past out of nostalgia. I discovered something that day. Somehow the magic that I remembered from childhood was no longer there. The excitement that to this day I remember experiencing all those years ago was absent. I left feeling that some things should probably be left in the past where they belong and that trying to recapture "magic" moments isn't necessarily the best idea. The "magic" feeling is for the now. It's for the memories you are creating that become special because of the people you are with for that one moment in time. The uniqueness of each moment can't be recreated, it has to be enjoyed as it occurs. We can try to go back just as Margaret did in North & South, but chances are we will find as she did that life has moved on and we truly can't go back to things as they were we must face the future with it's promise of magic moments and new memories to be made.
I suppose this particular scene stood out too me because it was something with which I found it easy to relate. It seems in the last few years I make it to December and look back over the year and find that many things have occurred that have challenged me, caused me to grow and changed me over the course of the year. This year for some reason seems to be on the fast track. Either that or all of those lessons from the past several years seem to be coming together finally. Whatever the reason I find myself in April looking at 2011 thinking I never imagined getting to the end of the year and being where I am just a quarter of the way through.
But back to the starting quote, "Try as we might, happy as we were, we can't go back." Out of a two part mini-series this was the one line that stood out to me and has stayed with me weeks later. I think probably because to me it sums up life and reinforces something I learned this last summer. When traveling back from Atlanta, I happened to pass the exit for Bardstown, KY. Remembering the visit to My Old Kentucky Home with my family when I was young I decided to stop past out of nostalgia. I discovered something that day. Somehow the magic that I remembered from childhood was no longer there. The excitement that to this day I remember experiencing all those years ago was absent. I left feeling that some things should probably be left in the past where they belong and that trying to recapture "magic" moments isn't necessarily the best idea. The "magic" feeling is for the now. It's for the memories you are creating that become special because of the people you are with for that one moment in time. The uniqueness of each moment can't be recreated, it has to be enjoyed as it occurs. We can try to go back just as Margaret did in North & South, but chances are we will find as she did that life has moved on and we truly can't go back to things as they were we must face the future with it's promise of magic moments and new memories to be made.
