Home is Where Your Heart Is

Our new place out in Cali!

Today, I am packing up our little home here in Decatur.  I'm sorting through the special treasures we've collected (and I admit, also some clutter!) in the two years we've lived here, in the two years we've made this our home.

It's bittersweet to move on.  It's such a gift that my husband got an amazing job out west.  And such a gift that I found a place to use my talents out there, too.  And we found a lovely, sweet little home to rent with charm and character and even fruit trees in the back yard.  And I can see our family growing there and settling into a happy routine.   So those things are full of hope.

But such a big part of our hearts is here in the south.  Being high school sweethearts and then going to the same university, Robi and I were so lucky to have a shared history in one little area of the world.  And though much of my family has moved away from Georgia, it is still home, and we have the most amazing and supportive group of extended family and friends here.

So to move across the country to a place where our closest friend is 5 hours away, is scary and hard.  And sometimes I am a little bit fearful.

But I am taking deep breaths, and saying little prayers to St. John the Wonderworker, whose influence in communities on both coasts and even abroad gives me confidence and strength in how small the world really is.

And lately, I've been telling myself over and over that, "Home is where your heart is."  And my heart will expand to embrace San Jose as my new home, although a little piece of me remains in each place we have lived and built community.

Just a minute ago, as I was packing and sorting, Patty Griffin's song "We Shall All Be Reunited" came on my radio, and it was such a wonderful reminder to me that we are connected to the people we love no matter how far the distance.  When we travel or are away from one another, I like to picture little ribbons of connection stringing from me to my husband, and from us to our daughter, and to my sister, and my niece, and my parents, and my in-laws, and on and on, even to those we love who have passed on.  We are always connected.

Here are the lyrics of that song, so beautiful!

Where is now my father's family
That was here so long ago?
Sitting 'round the kitchen fireside
Brightened by the ruddy glow

We shall all be reunited
In that land beyond the skies
Where there'll be no separation
No more marching, no more sighs

Some have gone to lands far distant
And with others made their home
Some upon the world of waters
All their lives have chose to roam

We shall all be reunited
In that land beyond the skies
Where there'll be no separation
No more marching, no more sighs

Some have gone from us forever
For with us they could not stay
They have all dispersed and wandered
Gone away, so far away

We shall all be reunited
In that land beyond the skies
Where there'll be no separation
No more marching, no more sighs

We shall meet beyond the river
In that land of pure delight
Where no sickness or no sorrow
Will our joys there ever blight

We shall all be reunited
In that land beyond the skies
Where there'll be no separation
No more marching, no more sighs
No more marching, no more sighs

OK, now back to packing!  Wish me luck!

How do you stay connected to the people you love even when they're far away?