I’ve returned from an exotic place I’ve been, and it’s a bit strange to speak of a ‘big adventure’ that has turned quickly from coconuts and calm to my knees sunk deep in Ohio snow. But, yes! This is adventure, too. So I’ve come to write.
What is the odyssey that has been coming home? My bed isn’t as stiff as it should be, my trips to grab a bite have become 10 miles too long, and the little voices that once called on me each morning fade more and more each moment. But I have come home. And I recall longing desperately for home, and all its comfort and familiarities. But it seems that I am someone I haven’t always been, and for this reason all is not what I expected. Is it ever?
When I stepped off the plane I remember thinking ‘Business, blue tooths, and Burger King’- this is what America is all about. But I realized the importance of putting on a lens in which I seek the beauty in this place. And I have indeed found it, in much time. There are friends whose arms reach lengths for me, family whose hearts seek to understand, there is a library where I can read and learn and grow, there are benches heaped in powder from the sky. Ohio is beautiful!
I’ve been waiting for and wanting a definition of home to offer you, but it hasn’t been coming easily. Is it the place you feel most comfortable? Perhaps. It’s where your family is? Well, now let’s define family. Is it where you come from? In this case, my home is Oklahoma. I’m not satisfied.
Now, I’m usually a bit of an editor. But because of all the energy I’ve sought in making something of ‘home’, with no luck, this will be a time in which I just write whatever comes. So bear with me! And read slowly, for it’s how I write.
Where the depths of sighs resound
and are heard
Tears caught in hands unclasped
Smiles recognized
Despite wrinkles that have come to rest aside them
Feet find their places to walk
and shoes to fill
Words nestle up to conversation
comfortably, anywhere
It’s where you’ve been all along
The part of you
With no name
no marker.
Always skimming
the lining that is home.
2 comments:
hil. i love this. i love reading your blog. i suppose i live vicariously through your travels, that is, until ohio state releases me from this so called education. i love reading about where you are, wherever you are.
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