Recently I was trying to think where "Home" is for me. I've lived in some great places. Northside of Chicago, in an apartment I'm sure I could never afford now, way UpNort where no one bothers to consider "wind chill," Milwaukee ya betcha, in a cabin on a ridge in Appalachia, a farmette in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and now in SC. I grew up in Mayberry Carthage, Illinois and raised my kids in the belly button of Illinois. I just couldn't quite put my finger on where Home is.
I loved the never ending excitement and collection of cultures of Chicago. The food and music of Milwaukee were great. I love thinking of our first crooked apartment while at University. Ha! Plaid flannel curtains. Just thinking about the sunsets over the lake and the calm of canoeing the Eau Claire UpNort does something fluttery to my heart. Remembering my hometown - the safety, the neighborhood kids, climbing trees and riding horses - it's like a warm quilt on a winter night. Oh, and the way the fog filled the New River Valley and looked like snow from my cabin in Appalachia - took my breath away. Holding the new lambs in Virginia, collecting eggs from all my named hens, mmmmm. All of these places come with memories that touch my soul. But they don't fit with "Home." They fit with Almost Home
I loved the never ending excitement and collection of cultures of Chicago. The food and music of Milwaukee were great. I love thinking of our first crooked apartment while at University. Ha! Plaid flannel curtains. Just thinking about the sunsets over the lake and the calm of canoeing the Eau Claire UpNort does something fluttery to my heart. Remembering my hometown - the safety, the neighborhood kids, climbing trees and riding horses - it's like a warm quilt on a winter night. Oh, and the way the fog filled the New River Valley and looked like snow from my cabin in Appalachia - took my breath away. Holding the new lambs in Virginia, collecting eggs from all my named hens, mmmmm. All of these places come with memories that touch my soul. But they don't fit with "Home." They fit with Almost Home
I know I felt a pull when in Southern Illinois a couple of days ago I could look straight ahead and see the sky over the tall corn. Sort of like there was a giant magnet out there and my solar plexus was made of very light iron. I just dunno exactly where "out there" is.
I felt that same sort of pull in the southwest of England on one lane roads winding through meadows of bluebells. And I felt it sitting in the Bush in Australia conversing with kangaroos. I certainly feel it sitting on huge granite boulders around my sister's house. I even felt it in the markets in China a bit. It felt like I belonged - or more like I could belong.
Maybe I'll find Home yet. Or maybe my home is this beautiful blue planet. I know that I grow more heart whenever I leave part of it behind. And maybe the composite of Almost Homes IS my home. And maybe I just think too much. Ya reckon?
I'm grateful.
I felt that same sort of pull in the southwest of England on one lane roads winding through meadows of bluebells. And I felt it sitting in the Bush in Australia conversing with kangaroos. I certainly feel it sitting on huge granite boulders around my sister's house. I even felt it in the markets in China a bit. It felt like I belonged - or more like I could belong.
Maybe I'll find Home yet. Or maybe my home is this beautiful blue planet. I know that I grow more heart whenever I leave part of it behind. And maybe the composite of Almost Homes IS my home. And maybe I just think too much. Ya reckon?
I'm grateful.
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