Home

"'Home' is any four walls that enclose the right person." Helen Rowland

While there's much more to get caught up on, the term "home" is the little four letter word that begged me to blog again. So, I'll start here.

In the weeks before leaving Colorado to come back to TN/NC I was full of emotions. Mostly because I had an uncle pass away, and a week later my very first niece, Eva Ruth, was born. My family was on a roller coaster of joy and grief and I was 1500 miles away. All I could do was pray and send flowers...after I checked on the prices to change my plane ticket and decided it couldn't be done. I realized for the last few weeks in Colorado I would have one foot in Salida and one foot in Tennessee.

Then the day finally comes. I get to fly back to Tennessee and eat all things delicious (yes, I am mostly motivated by food). But on the plane I realized I wasn't bringing my other foot with me. I would still have one foot in Salida and one foot in the South. Ted was getting his Level 2 AASI teaching certification and had a bad day on the hill, and all I wanted to do was be there with him and keep his spirits up. All of a sudden Cracker Barrel didn't seem that important.

In my regular, predictable fashion of course I stayed on Facebook updating my statuses frequently as I made my journey across the country. When I was Tennessee side, and then when I was finally in NC at NOC the most asked question was "are you glad to be here?" The word glad in this context made me shudder, the same way should does regularly. [blog will follow regarding should] Glad insinuates that i'd rather be here than the alternative. I expected to feel that emotion, but never did. The truth is I am happy to be here, I am happy to just be, but no sir, I am not glad. Because honestly, the old saying is true-Home is where the heart is.

I've got a big heart, made up of smiles, laughs, and joy brought to me by other people. I'm so glad to have the friends and family that I do. And to be honest, there was one moment when I said I was glad. And it was on an otherwise unassuming patio at Aubrey's. A patio that had no clue it was the chosen place for a reunion and homecoming for soul sisters. And at that moment, in the midst of the banter and the catching up, I was glad.

This lesson is one that I think it's safe to say I've learned in the past year and a half. It is what it is and everything happens for a reason, so don't dwell on it. Just be happy to be here. Just be content. After all, having a lot of places to call home is way better than having none.

"I'm just happy to be here at all." -Todd Snider