Georgia On My Mind... (and under my feet)

So...

I'm terribly sorry about the long delay in writing this, but I have been caught up in a bit of a whirlwind!

I love being a military wife; I feel proud of my soldier and I'm happy to serve my country by supporting him in his duty. The Fourth of July is one of many very touching holidays for us, as we remember what a wonderful thing it is to live in a free country and reflect on the sacrifice and service it has taken to make it so! I always feel so blessed and privileged to be a part of the US ARMY, striving, in my own way, to live up to the legacy of those before in KEEPING America free.
(super cute sign can be found at signsofpatriotism.com, by the way!  I sooooo want one of these!!) Sometimes, it's challenging. My most recent challenge: the aforementioned whirlwind!!

We got orders on May 5th. We were packed and on the road out of Texas by the 25th. We drove into Georgia on the 27th and started looking for a home on the 28th. (That process was a "whole nuther story", as they say, and what I consider to be absolutely Providential, but fodder for another blog entry another day!) My DH reported on the 29th, and thanks to God, we moved into a house on June 2 - a mere two days before DH started his intensive training course. Whew...

I'm still, as I recently told a friend of mine, swimming in a sea of boxes, but at least my head is above water (or, in this case, cardboard.)

And it feels like HOME.

Funny, right? Everywhere I go, it feels like home. When we moved from Utah to Georgia, it felt like leaving home... Then, after about a minute, Georgia felt like home. After 7 years, I was sad to leave, but soon Texas felt like home. Yet, when we travel out west, we call it "going home" for a while. Am I really so fickle!!!???

Well, I've been thinking about it lately, and I think I've finally figured it out. For me, Home isn't necessarily where my heart is - it's where my family is! I've left a little piece of my heart in each place I've lived, but HOME will always be defined as the place where I can be with my family.

As we drove into Georgia, I actually started to cry!! I felt this warm sort of nostalgia at the memories we'd all formed here before; it was a beautiful, sunny morning; everything I saw had an essence of familiarity; there were a million trees, so you could breathe (as my eldest DS remarked); and I told the kids, "It's good to be home." Even as I said it, though, I knew there was something more to it.  I was only half convinced that it was all the things I just mentioned that made me love Georgia.

So, today I realized the whole truth of it. My feeling of HOME came mostly from simply being with my husband and kids!   I'm actually here in a newish sort of place, doing new things, and meeting new people, on a new adventure - but I'm doing it with my family.  Not to be cliche, but I felt AT HOME in that moment, not because of where I was, but because EVERYTHING I need in the WHOLE WORLD was right there in the car with me.

FAMILY IS HOME to me.