4 - Tapestry of Home

5/9/09

I am finally home, landing yesterday midday. I have to say that one of my favorite parts of traveling by air is the return to the Midwest. I love flying in. About the time the captain announces the initial descent, the plane gradually breaks down through that final layer of white fluffy clouds, slight turbulence, which distracts you and then you are graced with your first glimpse of the lay of the land, the long country roads and rural highways forming the grid, laying the nearly flat land out like a huge quilt, the sewn crop rows, grass breaks, small creeks and long country lanes that lead to tall white farmhouses forming the patterns of the fabric, some the exacting pattern of courdoroy and others the curly ease of floral vines of an easter tablecloth. The colors of the earth change square by square, gradually graduating, field by field, the muted change that is subtle, believable, home. I love it. I love to see it. It makes me glad to be back, proud that the land can create a rolling blanket, welcoming, changing in color yet always the same.

Vacation is fun, but I am always glad to return to my house, my boring life, my family and friends. When I walk in my house, I realize it has its own smell.

I was glad to see that spring had sprung while I was away. My plantings and trees around my house had exploded, greens and all the flowers bright from fresh rainfall.

I love it here. I bring coffee out on my deck on the weekends and enjoy my park-like backyard. Its not large but hugs you like a grandma, enveloping you with familiarity, holding on, soft focus.

I cannot think of a place I like better. Add the birds and the squirrels and the neighbor kids and muffled cheer from a local little league game just a few short blocks away remind me what I miss when I am away and make me feel at home while I enjoy the familiarity that Ive come to appreciate.

To think that all these colors are included in the quilt fabric pattern seen from so many hundred feet or more above the ground makes me feel included, lucky, happy to be part of something, anything, and especially this.