Going "home" ...

When was the last time you went "home" ? I was amazed at how much came rushing back as I drove over the last mountain's crest and dropped into the valley. Street signs full of familiar words; each leading to some place I'd been in the past ... 680 to work, 280 to Stanford, 101 to San Francisco, and 17 to Santa Cruz. But the best sign was San Tomas Expressway. I think I drove that road in one way or another every day of my life in California.

And here it was again... leading me home.

"Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave,
but not our hearts."

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

The details might have changed on the buildings; trees are definitely much taller. But most of the streets are still in the same place they were when I left. (Thank goodness, or I might have gotten lost!!) It's amazing what the brain remembers and reacts to, like knowing which lane to be in, how soon you'll be at the next exit. Coming home this time was much different than in the past. My body may be a little more kinked and cramped (especially after a 13 hour car ride!); my hair may be a little grayer than it was the last time I was here .... well, underneath the color, anyway. hehehe. By the time evening rolled around, supper was done, had a shower, and was finally relaxing with a glass of wine, my ears quit ringing after the road/car/talking/music/noise from the trip ...... it was definitely good to be home :)

"Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule." ~Frederick W. Robertson