Hometowns...

For ten days in November, I took the back roads and did not use the satnav.  I listened to my favorite radio stations, heard the newest country songs, and sang along to all my favorites.  I drove past the harvested cornfields.  I munched on chips and salsa at our favorite Mexican place.  I sipped ice tea and ate frozen custard with Reese peanut butter cups even though it was frigid outside.  I savored my favorite salad while catching up with some of my favorite people.  I laughed with coworkers and told of all our adventures and misadventures living in the UK.  I dipped my veggies and chicken strips in ranch dressing.  I read the local paper and knew exactly where each town in the articles was located.  I walked the aisles of Target with a Starbucks in my hand.  I sat at my parents' kitchen table and talked for hours just like I had on so many Fridays before the move.  I could predict the weather for the whole day by just looking out the window.  I made purchases at shops, and no one asked where I was from in America or why I was there, because I just fit in.  

For ten days, I was in familiar territory.  I was comfortable.  I knew the landscape.  I was a local.  When my feet hit the ground in the airport, I felt at home, even though I knew I was now just visiting. 

While I felt at home and like I could easily slide back into my Midwestern life, each conversation and story of our British life were gentle reminders that I would shortly be boarding a plane home to the UK.  This Midwestern town , with all its familiar sights and sounds, is not my home anymore, but a place that I visit.  It has been a rough transition for me to think of the UK as home, but that is where home is.

At the end of the ten days with a few tears in my eyes, I boarded the plane back home to the UK.  Until I moved away, I never realized the security living in my hometown gave me.  It is truly where I was born, where I was raised, and the place that holds some of my most precious yesterdays.  Moving away from my hometown is part of the adventure.  Some days it is tough...really tough, some days it is thrilling, some days it is terrifying, and some days the UK is even starting to feel like home .  As I get back in my routine and recover from the jetlag, remember the lights are always on in our home in the UK.

~W