Homecoming

This year has been designated as being 2009 Homecoming Scotland and the red and the tartan carpets are out in Scotland and the bagpipes are playing for all Scots abroad and those of Scottish ancestry who will be making the pilgrimage. For various reasons I will not be going but I am always there in spirit.  Scots are romantic creatures who never forget where they are from and I have to include myself in that category. Each and every time I have returned to Scotland, as the plane descends, the wings bank and I glimpse the land through layers of cloud I cannot control my emotions as a big lump forms in my throat and a flood of tears obscures my vision. This happens every time and there's just nothing I can do about it. Scotland is indeed a terrible place to be from. There's just no getting away from it. Scotland hounds the departed Scot night and day. Now that's not all that bad. Scotland makes us who we are. If we are enamored by the land that we sprang from we can also be dedicated to the land and the country that welcomes us to its shores. As an immigrant with dual nationality and not being born in the USA I don't feel any less American than had I been. However I do understand why American citizens of Japanese descent were interned after Pearl Harbor.