coming home

i was driving back from a girls weekend in st. louis the other day and as it usually happens in the car, i was thinking a lot. the train of thought was long, windy and completely random as it usually is with me and my attention span that is so much like a fleas. but as i looked into my rear view mirror cruising down 1-70, i remembered the trip on this very same interstate that was leading me permanantly from my home in northern virginia with my parents to rural missouri. i spent most of that trip planning my escape and wondering how long it would take my parents to track me down once i had run away with their credit card and was living with friends back in virginia. it was hard moving in the middle of my junior year to a town that had less people than my high school miles away from a major city with a gravel parking lot full of pick up trucks, scary cowboy hats and people that had strangely known eachother since birth. and most were related to one of two families. there would be no blending into the crowd as there was no crowd. just a little town with no stop light in what i thought was the middle of nowhere. i was full of tears, doubt, concern and fear. who knew the path that God was carefully laying out before me step by step.

i have always thought of myself as a city girl. first of all it just sounds so much cooler than saying 'oh, yes, ive always wanted to live in the burbs' or 'yep, the country is just perfect for me. i love ticks.' having enjoyed the d.c. area for a number of years growing up and soaking up the sights, sounds and conveniences of a city, i have always had a love for it. after visiting friends in manhattan, my love for life in the city only grew.

and yet, as im cruising to my parents place on 100 acres 35 minutes outside of kansas city, im realizing how excited i feel about going home. and not just because there is a house full of love with people i adore. i mean, im really excited about the farm. i love the vast acreage, hearing georgia mooing at the cows and chasing the tails of the barn cats, the smell of the stable that holds countless memories for me, walking around the pond in the evening, watching the most amazing sunsets while sipping real sweet tea, hearing crickets, seeing stars, and breathing the cleanest air. to see the peach running out of energy before running out of room is priceless to me. i love it. all of it. and im realizing i am so not a city girl anymore. and i dont love ticks and i am irritated by mosquitos, but its a trade im willing to make to soak this place up. there really is nothing better than coming home.