Phil,
That is a pretty good analogy, I left for the service at 18 and never went back home to live when I got out. I would visit my mom, but by then I was married with my own family and home. My mom died in 1999, I still drive by to see the house. In fact I was just by there yesterday. Looks the same as I remember it in 1954 when I was 5.
But the difference I see here is that we didn't leave the homestead, it left us.
Here, a lot of us have set down new roots and they are growing. We have met new folks with simialr interests. There is an old quote " You can never go home again" It's From "A Death in the Family" by James Agee. The full quote is "How far we all come. How far we all come away from ourselves. You can never go home again." I still drive by the Culverforum. I want to see if there is anything new I can learn that hasn't been posted here. But for another analogy, this is my new carbine home, and family now.
Jim