If you could physically transport yourself to any place in the world at this moment, where would you go?

Good question. If you could be physically transported anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? Haven't we all thought about this at one time or another? When the local Newspaper Editor asked me this question, I had what I thought was a different take on it. Here's the essay I wrote for the Journal and Courier on the topic:

Do all little kids want to “go home” no matter where they are, or how long they have been there?

When I was little, I can remember constantly droning at my Mom, “Moooooommy….I wanna go hoooooome!”. I can remember visiting Grandparents where in no time, little Brother Craig and I would be whining in stereo…“Moooooommy…I wanna go hoooooome!”. Mom did her best to try and divert our attention to something else, and it worked sometimes, but we still usually wanted to go home.

If we begged to go home in front of our Dad, we were invariably met with Dad singing from Bobby Bare’s country classic song “Detroit City”, which was popular at the time. Dad’s way of showing us we were annoying him, and to make light of a situation we were trying to paint as desperate, was to sing “I waaaanna go home, I waaaanna go hooome, Loooord, I waaaaanna go home”. If we wanted him to stop, we had to shut up and quit whining ourselves. Curses, foiled again!

Mind you,"home" didn't contain any particular luxuries that we would miss if we were away. Computers, cel phones, ipods, ipads,etc, hadn't been invented yet. Sure, our toys were at home, but we didn’t play with most of those anyway (they were broken right after we got ‘em). So, why the emphasis on wanting to go home? Our parents were with us, our Brother was with us, so we weren’t “homesick” for lack of those that loved us. What then? Here's what yer Ol' Buddy Scotty thinks...

I was longing for the comfort that familiarity provides. Whether you live in a mansion, or in a barn, your home is that place in your heart that is familiar to you. Safe. Home is a place where your worries of the day can be ignored, where you can relax, put your guard down. Home is that place in the world, and in our minds, where we feel loved. Maybe there are people there, like a parent, or spouse, or kids. Maybe just memories. Either way, I am talking about unconditional love, peace, wherever you draw that from. It took me many years to understand the concept, but I think I get it now. So, even today, as an adult, if I could go anywhere, be anywhere, instantly, I’d still go Home.