Coming home has always been a feeling I am well acquainted with. I love traveling, I love it soooo much, even though I always get motion sickness a million different ways yet I still get on planes, trains, and automobiles with no hesitation because I love to go and to see this world. I have an explorer's nature, but a hometown girl's heart. I always love coming home. We got home yesterday from a trip to Northern California. When we walked out of the airport in Houston, I could just feel the sense of 'coming home'. Texas is like no other place in the world, and it is my home. It truly is a beautiful and unique place, and coming from here has a different flavor it adds to the soul that no other place has.
Today, I stayed in the house until about 4pm recouperating, and then went to Walmart because we have no food in the house. This was a mistake. I love my hometown, and I like living in a small town, but my town is full of HORRIBLE drivers, and... well, let's just say, they've drank the kool-aid, a lot. And...it's hot in Texas, hot and humid. At least in my neck of the woods. But, it's still home. I love home.
Speaking of home, I have decided that this is home. The current plan is to stay in Lufkin for a minimum of five years, and then go off to grad school in Maryland. By then, I should be able to get my loans paid off, and grow a good bit. This is the plan, but the plan can change at any moment. Preferably, by marriage - just throwing that in there. :)
"Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." - Pv 19:21
Our trip was tiring but very fun. I got to hang out with my best friend and her husband for several days, and we picked up like we had never been apart. I think now that I've seen her again, I'm gonna miss her even more. Napa Valley was absolutely gorgeous, and we took a back way to get there through the winding, forested roads in the mountains that took us deep into wine country, and Allie and I just soaked up that time together in one of the most beautiful places. We accidentally ate at one of the best places in Napa Valley, and paid for it, but ate great. The Winchester House was awesome for me because one of the things I adore is old houses! It was so weird, and I would love to just wander around in it for hours. We walked a lot in San Francisco, but the best part was Alcatraz. It was a really good tour, and fun to wander around. And I was loving life just blasting across the bay on the boat back (and got severely sunburned for it, but it was worth it.) Last we saw the redwood trees in Muir Woods, and I fell in love. Occasionally, I have a moment where I can see the world with different eyes. Muir Woods was one of those moments. 
It's as if I can just dispel the world for a while, and take in... creation. It's as if I can suddenly really understand what beauty is, what majesty is, what wonder is. It's where you just savor being a soul, and rejoice in the gift of life and the world around you. It's when I am not bogged down by the falleness of the world, and can see, for a second, that it was always meant to be more. And it tastes like another world, another time, another... dimension. It's there... right at the end of your senses, this ... other. It's beautiful. It's indescribable. And it just is wonder to the soul. It's God whispering, "I'm here; see me." And then reality snaps back, and I'm in the world again.
And now I have one week left until I start working for a new school year, and I'm really excited to start my first real year of teaching. I mean really excited. Don't know how long that will last, but I'm excited, and I have lots of stuff just ready to get organized in my classroom. All this activity and walking around in California has me energized and ready to get started next week. So, back to normal, with the resolution to enjoy the normal just as much as I enjoy the extraordinary.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." - John Piper
