Heading home

Well, we have turned another corner and once again headed east.

Heading home.

I remember many journeys and many times of heading home.

I remember giddy excitement of looking forward to being home.

...

It's different this time and I find myself pondering why.

What was it about home that called out to us after a journey? Were there things that we had missed?

If we had been camping, we were probably looking forward to a hot shower - or other comforts of home. Or maybe modern conveniences.

Depending who we had been with, we might be missing people - friends or family - and be anxious to see them.

If we had been gone a long time, maybe we were looking forward to just getting back to a normal schedule. Or maybe we needed to get back to our own doctor or dentist and other services available in our home community.

...

But this time, things are different.

As for the comforts of home...

Well, THIS is home. It has been our home for over seven months now and it really does feel like home. This rig. This tiny house on wheels. It is fairly comfortable - and in some ways more modern than the old log cabin that is waiting for us. In fact, we have a bigger shower in here than in the cabin - so I'm not too excited about that down-grade.

As for family and friends...

Yes, I am terribly excited to see the littles (AND their mommy) and to bask in hugs and songs and laughing all around for days and days. And yes, we are looking forward to seeing our extended families and our good friends and enjoying more hugs and great conversation. But here's the deal. We have been wonderfully blessed to have time with dear ones while out here on the road, too. Time that we wouldn't have had at home. There were great times with two of our daughters and other loved ones. Plus we met new friends along the way as well.

Then there's the matter of our weird schedule upon arrival back in Michigan. We will arrive "back home" in progressive steps - stopping here and there along the way to visit kids and grandkids and siblings and to celebrate a momentous birthday - probably all before we even get "home." I'm actually kind of wondering when I'll feel like we're home. Will it be when we hit the Michigan state line? Or will it be when we get to our daughter's house where the little sweeties live? That's where my aching arms get to finally embrace the little ones that I've been so homesick for and where I can get down on the floor and laugh and sing and play and be silly. In a very real sense, I'm guessing that I will feel like I made it back home at that point.

It's certainly not that I don't want to go home to the log cabin. I bet I'll be pretty excited to get there. It will be fun to have more space and to find stuff that has been packed away in storage. It will be fun for both of us to have our own desk again. And I know that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy my comfy old beat-up couch.

But maybe it's that I don't have to be there in that particular location in order to feel at home any more. I have now felt at home in other places as well as we have been practicing the art of building a life on the road - and a home on wheels.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty thankful. It has been an amazing journey. And yes, there will be wonderful things about getting home - wherever that turns out to be. And then I need to make those phone calls to set up those appointment for dental and medical check-ups! Oh, yes, we also need to pick up our box of mail from the post office and sort through it all.

I guess we'll know that we are home once we begin jumping into all of that "normal" work.

Oh, and when I can get back to my own hair stylist... Oh, yes, THEN I'll feel at home.