As I write this, I should be packing for our first road trip out of the Lone Star State. Mounds of laundry surround me, rain is slamming against our windows, and Sebastian is happily curled up against my legs on the couch. We talk about our Life Roads quite a bit, and what our plans, hopes, dreams and desires are. We have a President-Elect who oftentimes speaks of the very same topics and had burned "Yes We Can" into our hearts and minds and given our country a new-found sense of hope in the midst of much crisis.
Scott's dear grandmother passed away on Christmas Eve and we are traveling back to Illinois to bid our farewells and celebrate her long, full life with our family and friends. This will be our first trip "home" since we left last summer and has been weighing heavily upon my mind the last few hours. It seems as if we all have a sense of what "home" means and for some of us it isn't where we grew up, but the place that feels safe and familiar and one that pulls at your heartstrings each time you have a fleeting thought about it. Obviously, Chicago will always be home for Scott and I. Texas is well, Texas. We have family here and have made some very good friends, but when we start talking about our future hopes and plans and dreams, our hearts and minds go straight back to the Windy City. I am chuckling to myself as I sit her with my cup of tea and ponder what to write exactly. Some of my blogs from the spring time exhibit my desperation to leave the hustle and bustle and yuppie-ness that was, indeed, our "home". Looking back, it was making us irritable and crazy on some levels. The best thing we could have done at that point was what we actually did do~we left. For this city girl, 1000 miles, seven months, countless phone conversations with my sister -in-law and my best friend have opened my eyes to the fact that home is definitely NOT where you make it (what a dumb saying), but home is where your heart belongs and where you feel safe and at peace. You can survive living anywhere, but when you're at peace with your surroundings, you are finally at home.
If anything has been learned in this life of mine, its that above all else, peace and faith are very important. Temporary homes serve their purpose in life and are sometimes necessary to teach us perseverance, patience and temperance, but ultimately we must find our way back home on our Life Road.
Please keep Scott's father and family in your prayers through this sad time. Wishing everyone a blessed and safe New Year that will bring peace and happiness wherever you may be....in your homes.
Until again,
~Red
