Long Journey Home: Tales Of Growing Up In Uniontown, Pennsylvania

But it is Baltimore itself that keeps me rooted. All that has happened to me over the years, anything that has truly mattered, has happened to me here. Here has been my life, and I am at home here. And yet every once in a while, I'll unconsciously refer to home, and I won't be speaking of Baltimore. I say "Home," and I mean Uniontown…a place I haven't lived in almost half a century. It can happen as suddenly as a clap of thunder from a clear, blue sky. A rogue wave crashing down on a beach and washing the blanket out to sea. Or a random gust of wind that rakes an entire picnic lunch off the table. In that moment, it's as though I never left that morning, the day after commencement, in 1978. The past, and the place it happened are also home. And no matter the time or distance I journey, they are always right behind me.