Home Again

After 2 long travel days, I pulled up in front of my childhood home.

It was a long day beginning at the western border of Wyoming.
For the most part the weather was agreeable.



I am just not used to such strong winds blowing through wide open spaces.
It was mostly cloudy the better part of WY and we had off and on showers.
For the brief time we were in Colorado we could see rain in the distance,


but didn't have to worry about rain slick roads.
By the time we hit the Kansas border we had beautiful clear skies.



And we even got to watch another nearly full moon rising.

My son asked me if it felt "weird" coming back to KS and Wichita,



I said, "'no, it felt comfortable.
In many ways, this still feels like home.
It's my CHILDHOOD home.

Negotiating the highways, main thoroughfares, and small side streets... (Even in the dark of night...) Are still easy for me and it's been nearly 20 years since we moved away.

What is most difficult about coming home now isn't the familiarity or the UNfamiliarity of the streets, directions, getting around town, or how quickly old landmarks change.
What is most difficult about coming home now is knowing things have changed.

This trip home...
Well, ...
Simply ...
things are different.

What is weird is realizing I am much older.
I have children nearing the age I was when we moved away.
Usually when I come back home I feel young again.
Or at least younger!
But tonight is different.

When did my parents home begin smelling like my grandparents home?

It's not a 'bad' smell.
In fact, it's a 'homey' smell.

There was always something familiar and comfortable about the smell of my grandparents home on Dayton St.
It was there each time I visited from early childhood through my adult years.
It was more faint when I stepped into the house last June, but it was there even though grandma is now in a care center.

I smelled that same familiar, comfortable smell tonight when I walked in the door here on Coolidge.
But this is my parents home,
My childhood home,
Not my grandparents home!

I recognized tonight that time is passing, ...and too quickly!

For pete's sake, I am sleeping in my dad's bed because he is still in the hospital!

As Ben would say,
'Time is turning my tomorrows into yesterdays.'

Each Day I will continue to try....
To Learn
To Laugh
To Grow
To Live
And most of all
To Love


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