There is a song by Jennifer Nettles and Bon Jovi that always hits me square in the heart called “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.” Every time I hear it, I think about Todd County, Kentucky. That little patch of ground, those backroads, and the people who made me who I am.
I was not born there. My birth certificate might say Austin, Texas, but my heart was raised in Todd County. That is where my parents were from, and that is where the stories of my life truly began. I grew up hearing the names of places that still feel like home, like Clifty, Cedar Grove, Elkton, and Allegre. Even though I have lived in a lot of places since then, none of them have ever felt quite right.
Like the song says, “I’ve been all around the world,” and I really have. I have seen a lot, done a lot, and I guess you could say I was a rolling stone for a good part of my life, chasing opportunities, working jobs, and seeing what was out there beyond those Kentucky fields. But no matter how far I went, it always seemed like a part of me stayed behind. You can leave Todd County, but it never leaves you.
For the past twenty-five years, I have been living over in Trigg County. It is a nice place, but it has never felt like home. Home is not just about where you sleep or where your mail goes. It is where your roots are buried deep in the soil. It is where the land feels familiar beneath your feet, where memories seem to hang in the air, and where the faces of folks still look like family.
Sometimes I take a drive through Todd County, past the same roads I once knew by heart. The years have changed things a little, but the spirit of that place has not gone anywhere. I see the old barns leaning into the wind, the churchyards that hold generations, and the fields that still stretch wide under a Kentucky sky. In those moments, I feel something no other place has ever given me, and that is peace.
So when someone says, “You can’t go home,” I just smile. Because I have been out there. I have tried to find it somewhere else. But I know now, you can always go home. Maybe not to the same house, or the same people, but to the same feeling.
And for me, that feeling will always be Todd County.
Because that is where my story started and where I want it to end.
Before my time here is over, I plan to go back, not just for a visit, but to stay.
Because deep down, I know one thing for sure.
I am going home and I hope they welcome me back with open arms, unlike Trigg County.