Home Sweet Home

I wanted to kiss the ground when I climbed off the airplane, but it would only be carpet and that would just be dumb. By the time I got outside where there was real concrete, the desire to kiss anything but my family was gone.

Home sweet home.

Dorothy said it in the classic, The Wizard of Oz. "There's no place like home, no place like home, no place like home."

I'm used to being away from home. I travel once a month to hang out with parents or teens at conferences and such, but this wasn't a weekend trip. It was 10 days.

Ten very long days.

The funny thing is that before I left I was itching to live somewhere else. Muskogee, Oklahoma is a city/country type of place with big-city problems like meth and poverty, but without the big-city advantages like cool restaurants, museums, or places to hang out.

When I received the call to hang out with a family member who was sick, I was glad to go. I would get to hang out with my nephews and nieces (who I adore), AND I would get to soak in the Rockies and play in the snow, something we don't have much of in Oklahoma.

On the 3rd day homesickness started to creep in with greedy fingers. It wasn't that my nephews and nieces weren't amazing, but I missed the things I normally took for granted. I also missed the tight-knit closeness of my own family.

By the 9th day I was ready to kick it all to the curb and find my way home.

When I was growing up, home was a hard place to be. In the place I stayed for 9 days, those childhood patterns continued and that was the overwhelming reason that I saw the beauty of what I left behind.

Home sweet home.

Even Muskogee, Oklahoma with all its problems. Yes, we have poverty that must be dealt with, but we also have warm, amazing people whom I call my friends. Yes, we have a drug problem, but we have people who care about the problem and who are trying to help. Nope, no real entertainment venues, but we have gorgeous lakes and green hills and camping grounds, and besides the big stuff is less than an hour away.

Do you ever take home for granted? I guess I have. Why don't you take a minute and tell your mom or dad or even your pesky little brother or sister that you love them. Kiss your dog. Call your best friend who lives two doors down and tell her hello. Look around your city and see what it is that makes it home -- sweet home -- for you.

Suzie