It seems like there is a lot I'm trying to sort through at the moment. Including trying to plan my Christmas trip home to Iowa. Although it's a HUGE bummer that the economy isn't doing very well, I'm selfishly excited for affordable airfares. Being a teacher, I'm always on a tight budget, so finding the cheapest way from the-middle-of-no-where Montana to the-middle-of-no-where Iowa can be quite the trick. The process seems easier this year, though, and for that I am truly grateful. See, it's really important that I get home for the holidays this year. I'm pretty homesick at the moment and have had a pretty rough go of things this summer and fall. I'm hoping a trip home will bring me back to center. More importantly, however, I need to go home because my parents' home, my brother's home, and about 3/4 of my home town were all completely destroyed by an EF5 tornado this past May. We lost everything including three of our next-door neighbors and a man from from our church. It's really important to get back for my family, friends, and for me to help continue the overall healing and grieving process.
There's a good chance it could be a really hard Christmas, but I think it will feel pretty good to be around my family. After the tornado, I started to realize just how fragile life can be, and now I'm trying to realign my priorities. One of the priorities that I am struggling with is being closer to my family and friends. Lately, I've been wrestling with whether I am ready to leave the mountains so that I can be closer to home. In some ways I'm hoping this trip will help me know what I need to do.
2 comments:
It's strange how somehow it takes a critical loss to help us review personal priorities. No one signs up for the loss, but some good can come of it; however, it usually takes time. Occasionally, lots of it.
As a fellow wanderer, I've found that the way I should take, my path, opens up before me as I travel on. If I don't know what to do, than it's probably not time to make the decision. But eventually, even three of the biggest life decisions are clear: job, home, and mate.
Travel on!
Your post is so beautifully sprinkled with the images of travel, of journey. I would like to go on record as saying, Wow! I particularly love the image of traveling from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. It's a pretty Zen concept, powerful, empty, and full, all at the same time!
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