A Sort of Homecoming: Returning to the Person I Became
When I made the thumbnail for my “Oregon Coast Trail Reunion” video, I wasn’t thinking too hard about it. My new approach to designing these is to take a still screen from the video (no goofy poses, no shock face, no fake images) and add a strong, emotional caption.
That caption ended up being “A Sort Of Homecoming.”
A Sort of Homecoming is one of my favorite early U2 songs, and the phrase felt right. It resonated with me. It felt nostalgic.
But I didn’t realize how on the nose, how fitting, that phrase was until several days after publishing the video. It hit me like a bag of bricks flying into my face on 100MPH winds of realization. Or something like that :)
One year ago, I stood on Ocean Beach at the California-Oregon border, after hiking 400+ miles on the Oregon Coast. At the time, it felt like I was leaving home. Finishing the trail became unexpectedly heartbreaking. I wasn’t remotely ready to leave, even after 37 hiking days and nearly 3 months on that aggressively beautiful coastline.
When I returned to it this year on my “nature nomad” journey, I expected nostalgia. I expected all the jaw-dropping scenery.
What I didn't expect was realizing that I wasn’t just returning to a place, I was returning to a moment that quietly had a huge impact on my life.
The Oregon Coast Trail didn't just give me 413 memorable miles. Looking back now, it was the catalyst that nudged me toward this new “second life.”
I left a career that killed my spirit, and seemed at odds with an emerging new version of my personality. I went on a 3-week road trip that made me start seriously thinking about a nomadic lifestyle. I slowly started (or at least made efforts) to center my life around nature instead of technology. I created Seasons of Jason…
Jason Evangelho
Standing on that beach again, I began to understand something I couldn't possibly have known during my original hike: The person who stood at that finish line a year ago is the reason the person who filmed this reunion moment exists today.
I guess because time is a truly powerful force, and we can't predict what it will bring.
The takeaway for me is that it wasn't really a homecoming to the Oregon coast. It was a homecoming to the version of myself that I discovered there.
And that’s a rather poignant, beautiful realization.
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