Today I am thankful to be home for Christmas. Home can mean something different to different people, or even at different times in your life. The obvious home is where you live. Where you sleep at night, where you receive your mail and eat your meals. Home can be the place you were born and raised, even if you have not been back in years. Home can be the place that changed you. Made you grow, and learn, and see things differently, and that will live on with you always. For me, home, is a combination of all these things. I have been blessed and cursed with moving "homes" quite a few times in my life. Born and spent my young childhood in southern California. Later moving to Oregon, kicking and screaming the whole way, cursing my parents for moving me away from all I knew and loved. Only to later discover that this place I did not want to go would eventually be, home. I recently moved back to California, this time residing in the bay area, and over these last few years I have grown to love it. I love being near my cousins again. I love being near the beautiful big city filled with culture and life. However, my heart remains in Oregon. Where my children's grandparents are. Where my big brother and little brothers and sisters that I have been blessed with through marriage reside. Although I spent my childhood in California, I did my real growing up in Oregon. Amongst the rain and the green. Amongst the simplicity.
So today, I am thankful to be home for Christmas. I am thankful that our families open their homes to us for a 1/3 of the year so we can come home again. I am sure I will have many more homes in my life. I have no idea where, or for how long, or what stories they will hold. But I do know it is not true what they say; you can come home again.
I have enjoyed reflecting on all that I am grateful for over the past 30 days. I will continue to be thankful everyday beyond this, because as these past 30 days have shown me, I have so much to be grateful for. Some say that new technology separates us from human interaction; however I find that through venues like these, it can enhance it. And for that, and for you, I am thankful. Stay tuned for some more blog entries to come in the near future; however, I may be taking a small break, writing every day for a month is exhausting!
