Home - Away from Home

I'm traveling again for the first me since moving to DC. I'm actually blogging from Mud House in Charlottesville. Feels a bit like having coffee with an old friend; lots to catch up on after so much change. I can't help but think of what was going on in my life the last time I was here, the things I was upset and excited about, and how dramatically it has all changed in such a short time.

It's been great seeing c-ville people again, getting up to date on the goings-on in the lives of these people who are so important to me. But I have been caught off guard by how quickly DC has become my home, and how strongly I'm resenting having to leave it.

I think anyone who knows me would agree that I've always been something of a nest builder. I like my space, my rhythms, my sense of place. I enjoy travel and adventure, but it always reaches a certain point of frustration and discomfort that only the trip back home can cure. Usually it takes me a few weeks to reach that point. This time it's barely taken a few days.

The thing is, it's been so long since I had a home space that I really felt ownership of that I don't think I even realized how much I missed having one at all. As we made plans to head to Williamsburg and then back to Three Hills before Christmas I definitely wasn't thinking that being gone would be emotionally difficult. Surprise, surprise.

I'm not complaining, though, just remarking on the unexpected internal changes that have accompanied the external ones. I have a home space I really want to be in, a city I really enjoy exploring, and a widening pool of amazing and unexpected relationships with some truly awesome people that I look forward to deepening. None of that was true two months ago, and now that it is, the last thing I want to do is leave, even for a short work week back in the mountains.

I guess sometimes you have to leave home for a bit to get a sense of how greatful you are to wake up there.