There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Does the past ever go away? Better yet, do the bad memories of the past ever go away? No, they do not. The simple answer, simply put.

Personally, I would rather history not repeat itself. If I can control my own memory to minimize an unfortunate occurrence from happening again, then I'll keep the bastard in a back burner room for future reference if need be. But like the memory of the excruciating childbirth fades, or so I've been told, so does the hurt and pain of past hardships. And similar to the sequence of birth, the aftermath of pain, comes a new birth, a new life, a new perspective - a new change. Pending outlook and hard work, this change is better than the previous experience and the previous life lived. No Einstein revelation here, but an all-the-time rosy existence, which doesn't exist in the first place, would not allow for a full appreciation of the rosiness, if in fact the moments of suffering and sadness in life were not fully conscious and not fully understood.

Even so, if women truly remembered the pain of giving birth, would she do it again and again? The blessing is well worth it, but I would venture to say, we'd have less babies in the world if the pain remained vividly in one's memory. All the same, a relationship comes to a sour end, it hurts, time surpasses, and love is then sought again. Why? Because the good outweighs the challenges. As such, both childbirth and love continue, whilst the past is still, ever-so present. The past, although now emotionally detached to the degree that it once was, will never be too far away. It goes without saying, every event is the totality of who you are. We learn how to walk to eventually run atop mountain peaks! We learn to talk to sing amongst the stars! We love with resilience, to not stop at any given point, but - to continuously seek to love better and to love bigger.

A painful experience can slow us down, but, should it stop us on our path altogether? I think not. This too shall pass - a favorite adage of mine. Things do pass, and we will continue to run and to sing and to love (and to have babies for that matter), and gratefully, these past memories will re-surface from time to time. Because not only do they offer a reminder of what was, but more so, are a great opportunity to recognize how everything makes you the better person you are today. Unless you're a prisoner of your past that is...If so, I say, get the hell out of there and move fast. Refrain from digression at all costs, and jump on the enlightened, progressive train with the cool folks. Dorothy had it right people, there's no place like the present.