Happy Ending....or Not?

I was at our Knitting Book Club meeting today and, as usual, our opinions of the current book selection were as varied as the knitters at the table.  As we neared the end of our discussion, one of our members said, "You know, what I really liked was the ending.  The main character was right back home where he had started out.  It was a happy ending."

I looked over at her and piped up.  "My goodness, I hated the ending.  I thought it was really depressing.  Good grief, all that effort to escape his environment and he ends up right back home.  I mean, my gosh, I couldn't WAIT to leave home when I was growing up and if I had found myself ending back in my hometown after all those years, I would be devastated!"

"Isn't that interesting," another member piped up.  "Two completely different viewpoints about the same thing.  One person thinks it is a happy ending and the other one finds it depressing."

Guess it's all in your point of view, eh?  I really DID have a happy childhood, I think.  At least, it was fairly normal.  However, I knew from a very early age that I just didn't belong in that city or state.  I never felt like I belonged there and always breathed a sigh of relief when we headed out to my mom's childhood farm at the end of the school year to spend the entire summer in rural Minnesota.  That's where I felt at home.

When I graduated from high school, I practically flew past all the weeping seniors that night and never looked back.  Hasta la vista, Baby!  I was on my way.

I made the obligatory trips home in college for the major holidays but spent my summers taking classes on campus to avoid having to go home and signed up for special field trips between semesters.

After college, I joined the Army and signed up for a duty station in Europe.  I LOVED being overseas although I did make one trip home during my tour over there.

After my enlistment was up, I really did try to return to a normal life but could only stand it for about six months before I ended up enlisting in the Navy.  Remember those silly class predictions they used to do for all the high school seniors?  Hey, I did my part to make them come true.  Mine had said I'd be living in Greece ten years after graduation.

It was an accurate prediction, although I was NOT working as an archaeologist.  Met the Commander in Greece and we married there and enjoyed the rest of our Navy years moving around the U.S. and overseas.   If I had ended up back in my hometown, you bet I would have seen it as a depressing disaster.

It's all in your point of view.  You take the road home and I'll take the road out of town (and I'll probably be singing "Happy Wanderer" as I head out).