Meg wearing a hat in front of beautiful flowers

Coming Full Circle: A Journey Back to My Roots and Myself

by Meg Benjamin, Head Contributor

I’ve often heard the phrase, “I feel like I’ve come full circle,” but I never truly understood its meaning until I recently experienced my own full circle moment.

Born in rural Pennsylvania, I lived there until I was about two years old. After that, I never officially resided in PA again, except for a brief stint in my 20s. At that time, I was running away from myself, and moving back to my home state only exacerbated my problems until I figured out who I was and what I wanted from life. That story is for another time.  

Let’s rewind to when I moved away at two years old. My father, a career Naval Officer, took us all over the country and even to a few international destinations, as a “Navy Brat.” I always wondered about that term. Most of the “Navy Brats” I knew were anything but brats. Raised by strict military parents, they were well-behaved, polite, and cultured.  But none the less, I am very proud to have been raised a Navy Brat, and I still wear that label with pride.  

Fast forward to my full circle moment. After traveling, living abroad, and starting a family (twins at 50! If you’d like to read more about that click here), my husband and I yearned to be closer to family and live in a less populated area. We hadn’t pinpointed a specific region or town; it was just a thought.  I really hadn’t imagined or thought we would actually move back to my hometown.  

Then my dad passed away. About six months in to her grief, my mom decided to move back to her hometown (which is also my hometown) to be closer to her sisters. As we helped her move back to rural Pennsylvania, it became clear she needed more help than I could provide from 2,000 miles away.

So, in the fall of 2023, I packed up my home and family and made several cross-country trips to move back to rural Pennsylvania. Think Planes, trains and automobiles, but for us it was mostly planes and automobiles with 4-year-old fraternal twins in tow.  The twins were troopers, and we made everything seem like another adventure! 

Starting over wasn’t easy. I had family and a few friends here, but I had to make new friends and build a new life. Not like the relationships I had and still have in the Denver Metro area. I had lived there for more than 22 years and created, developed and nurtured many great friendships along the way. The type of friendships that are lifelong.

After about a month of moving back home, I found a job and a freelance writing gig that I love. I adore living in the country, where it’s quiet and the traffic is almost non-existent. Even when I must travel for work or medical appointments, the traffic is laughable compared to the congestion out West. Some days, I pass only one or two cars on my way home from work. Out West, traffic was so bad that it could take an hour just to cross town.

My full circle moment hit me recently when I found a letter I wrote to myself in January of 2024.  I read that letter to myself and felt an insurmountable amount of pride for myself.  I’m living the advice that I gave myself more than a year ago, upon my return to rural Pennsylvania.  Now, that’s something to be proud of for sure!   

The letter I penned to myself is below:

January 1, 2024

Dear Meg,

I’m so proud of you. You’ve only been in PA for a little over a month and you’ve already come so far.

You have a new job that is going to work perfectly with the boy’s schedule.  You are a great mom, giving the twins a good foundation to grow up and be loving and kind men.

You took a chance and had the self-confidence and courage to reach out to a local newspaper editor.  Now you are writing articles and actually getting paid for those articles. I hope you will reach for bigger writing projects.  Write magazine articles, start your podcast and even your book!  What are you waiting for?!

I’m also proud of you for standing up for yourself in your marriage.  You deserve to be happy, adored and loved.  You will not accept any disrespect or bad treatment from any man any longer.  You give so much and it’s time you receive as much as you give.  

You are a true light and a blessing to your family and friends.  If someone in your life, even family, doesn’t see this, you are better off being the light on your own.  You deserve all of the love, all of the happiness, and all of the joy your heart can stand.  Don’t settle for any less.

Please remember how awesome you are. Even when things get hard.  Things will get hard, but you are strong, and you can handle whatever is thrown at you!

Love, 

Meg

I had completely forgotten about writing myself that letter until I found it, quite by accident.  When I read it, I felt immediate pride and accomplishment.  I have accomplished so much in my short time since returning to my roots.  If you haven’t written yourself a pep-talk letter and put it away to read it later, I highly recommend that you do. There is something cathartic about reading your own words and realizing that you took your own advice and made positive changes that have improved your life.  

Now, living in rural Pennsylvania full time, I feel like I’ve truly come full circle. I was born here, moved away, came back, moved away again, and now I’m back for good. This time around, I’m more mature, more grounded, happier, more fulfilled personally and professionally. 

I don’t have many regrets, but if I had one, it would be that my grandmother (Nana) isn’t alive to witness my full circle experience.  If you believe in spirits (I do), then you believe like I do, that she’s here with me (in spirit) and already knows all about my full circle and that I’m finally home where I belong.  She would be so happy that we’re all here, even if we don’t get together as often as we’d like. She would have adored my twins as much as she loved me and my cousins. 

This summer, I plan to have a ‘cousins’ reunion at my house in the country.  I know my Nana will be with us in spirit and rooting for all of us.  So happy that we all took the time to take a break from our busy lives and just be together like we used to do when we were kids!

Have you had a full circle experience in your life? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

*The newspaper that I'm a contributor for is called the Potter Leader Enterprise. It's a local newspaper located in Potter County, PA.  If you google, Meg Benjamin, Potter County, PA; you should be able to find some of the articles I've penned for the publication.