Life Upside Down

      

       Seeing this girl for the first time since 2009! 

“Headed down south to the lane of the pine

I’m thumbin’ my way to North Caroline…”

In just a few short hours I’ll be on a plane, headed back to the Tarheel state! I am beyond excited for so many reunions and faces, family time, scuba, shopping and summer. 

“Staring at the road ahead,

Pray to God I see headlights…”

I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve seen my family and been home. So much has happened in the last twelve months, and I can honestly say we’ve forged an entirely new life here. It doesn’t make me miss the old one any less, though.

“I made it down the coast in seventeen hours

Pickin’ me a bouquet of dogwood flowers…”

Living abroad has its challenges, its inherent craziness, but thanks to technology keeping in touch is so much easier than even a few years ago when I first ventured overseas. 

“And I’m a-hopin for Raleigh, 

I can see my baby tonight…”

It doesn’t make up for everything, though. Missing my youngest sister’s high school graduation, absence from birthdays and Christmases, not being able to attend one of my closest friend’s weddings, the occasional feeling of real separation when you realize that your family is a good 20-plus hours of flying away.

These next 3ish weeks though, will make up for so much of that. Not all of it, but a lot. That’s the amazing thing about family and real friends: the elasticity. The ability to meet up after not seeing each other for years and just step back into each other’s lives. 

“So rock me mama like a wagon wheel

Rock me mama any way you feel

Hey, mama rock me…”

Here’s to family! Here’s to home. See you all very, very soon.