Home

We are less than two weeks from returning to Colorado and I cannot wait to get home!  This whole summer has been an amazing adventure and we have plenty of stories to tell from our travels, but it is starting to feel like it is time to get back to our reality.  With the recent flooding in Boulder, and the yearning to want to be there to help those people I know have hours of cleaning up ahead of them, I have been "homesick" for the first time since I left home in May.

When we chose to go on the road for the summer, I wondered how long it would take for me to miss home.  Surprisingly, I haven't really been homesick until recently (read - until Boulder was hit by a devastating storm).  This lack of homesickness may have been because we were seeing so much of the country, it may have been because we saw family and/or friends in every state where we were serving up bananas, it may have been because we saw both our parents among other loved ones all summer long, it may have been for any number of reasons...

But I am pretty sure it has mostly been this:

A while back, I found this and thought it was a nice, heart-warming sentiment.  Now I believe it to be 100% true.  I haven't been missing our apartment, because my home has been with me this whole time!  I couldn't have made it through this summer without Lucas and I think it is a testament to the importance of keeping your family and loved ones close.  Lucas, my parents, Luke's parents and the many people we saw this summer made it a once in a lifetime experience and we always felt at home in each others company, and in the company of those dearest to us.  All I can say, is I am walking away from this experience (in a couple weeks) feeling completely blessed.

My good friend Lindsay recently passed along this quote, which resonated with me the past few days:

"And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days."

- Ray Wylie Hubbard

I certainly have been blessed this summer, and continue to feel those blessings in my life every single day.  As we finish out our tour, I can't help but come back to those things in my life in which I am so grateful - my husband, my parents, my entire family, the ability to travel, having access to food for cooking, being able to pursue my goals and passions with limited restrictions, having the means to explore and pick up to go on this adventure for a summer - and I realize that this summer has allowed me an amazing opportunity while surrounding me with these wonderful blessings.

I look forward to getting home and seeing friends and family in Colorado oh so soon, but in the mean time I will finish out the last leg of a summer that has left me feeling blessed.