Going Home

The girls and I piled back in the car on Saturday to take Grandma to Cedar Falls to see the house and make some visits.  I was quite impressed with their travel-ability since it was a 2.5 hour drive there, 2.5 hour drive back and all the driving around town for quick stops in between.  Well done, girls.  Well done.

When we reached town, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch so we could enjoy a kid frosty. yum!  Then off to Aunt Charlotte's for a visit.  It's funny how we don't realize the size of homes until we're grown and back in the living room's of the 50s. It must be because I was much smaller then. lol!  It was nice to get to see her and the girls loved running up and down her long driveway, just like I loved to do as kid.  Susanne stopped by for a quick visit, too, and gave the girls a WHOLE box of Thomas the Train Engine tracks and engines!  SCORE!  (more on those later)

Next we went to Aunt Della's for a visit.  She looks great for her age.  I think she's in her 90s now and still lives at home.  The girls were getting a little restless by this time and my ever-charming Maggie pipes up, "All we've done all day is drive around and see old people!"  I shouldn't think this is funny (because it's terribly rude) but honestly, I remember feeling the SAME WAY as kid.  Feeling like every weekend we spent with old people.  My parents loved to go visit family and since I was the youngest of 8, most of the family we visited were "old" in my opinion.

Lastly, we stopped at the home I grew up in.  It's a small home on a dead end street in Cedar Falls, Iowa with a large yard.  It's always strange for me to return to that town and home.  I've never been one to be "homesick".  My siblings have been doing lots of work to get it sale ready and looks a lot different then I remember.  Walking through the home, I didn't feel a lot of emotional attachment as I thought I might, though there were floods of memories that came to mind.  It wasn't until I was in my old room and looking out the window that I got emotional.  I remember countless days gazing  out that window dreaming of building a different life for myself.  I didn't have the most horrible childhood, but there were certainly difficult trials faced there and in that moment I realized that I had built a different life for myself.  It's not perfect, it's not what I expected for my future, but it's good and I'm blessed to be where I am.  Those trials of my youth built and blessed me in unexpected ways and oddly, I'm grateful for some of those experiences that have made me who I am today.