kayaking on Loch Leven near Glencoe, Scotland, 2018

kayaking on Loch Leven near Glencoe, Scotland, 2018

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Going Home

Last Thursday I flew home to Pittsburgh. My sister Lisa had a baby recently and I couldn't wait any longer to see my new nephew. On the plane, I had a window seat so I was able to gaze down (over and around the wing. I'm always in a seat by a wing) at the mossy brown landscape. The terrain undulated, rippling for as far as my eyes could see. I miss the hills. I was on the right side of the plane, so was able to see the city, beautiful and glistening in the setting sun, as we neared the the airport.

I rented a car and hurried to meet some friends for dinner. As I drove up 279 into the North Hills, the familiarity of it all sang in my heart, "I'm home!" Such a sense of peace settles over me when I'm "home." I had a blast, visiting with family and friends these past five days.

And now I'm at the airport, waiting to "go home." I miss Bob and the kids. And the warm weather! It's been freezing up here. I'm excited to get back to my family, my house, the gym, church, the conference committee, and the usual routine. So I guess it's possible to have more than one "home." And it's always good to go back.

5 comments:

Mindy Blanchard said...

Congrats on your new nephew - how exciting - i'd love to be an aunt again - hmm. I'm glad you had such a great trip. And that you are home safe and sound.

What is "home"? To me it is the collection of people, places, moments that mean the most to us, the different pieces of our lives and ourselves that resonate with the colors and security and beauty of the lives that we have made within this world.

You leave a piece of yourself behind and you take a piece of the place with you. Home is never really far away, regardless of the miles!

Can't wait until Saturday!!!!

Mindy

Winona Cross said...

Home! Your post made me cry. I desperately miss two homes, Oklahoma where my parents moved in 1969 after I graduated. Oklahoma was the home of my grandparents and home of the heart for my parents when I was a child. They went home again. I miss family and the hills.

The second home I miss is the desert of west Texas and New Mexico. I miss the horizon. I miss my youth.

Louisiana has never stolen my heart. However, certain people, my church, my writer's group and the food has indeed stolen my heart.

Angie, you've surely given my heart food for thought. I'm happy you got to go home.

Nona

Maria Sondule said...

I've never moved in my life so I feel very lucky not to be torn between two places. Although it's good that you have two places to call home.

Anonymous said...

We've lived in so many different places I've given up calling any place home. Your nice post made me take a look at the places I've left behind. We only lived in one where we didn't make any friends. We were there for nine months. No friends at all. Nada. Zip. A blank page -- a nothing memory. The day the packers came, our neighbors came over to tell us goodbye--until that moment they'd never done anything more than wave at us. That day--forty-five minutes before we left to move back to Louisiana--we learned they went to the same church we did. Sad, huh?
This 'no man's land' we lived in was Sugar Land, Texas.

Common Household Mom said...

I know that feeling of my heart singing as I approach home!

Jess, it's too bad about Sugar Land, TX. I hope you are in a nicer place now. I thought about neighbors last night when I went over to my neighbor to borrow 1 teaspoon of vanilla to make chocolate chip cookies, at 9 PM at night. I am grateful for my kind neighbors, who definitely contribute to me feeling that here is my home.