Home Sweet Home

This past Saturday afternoon was wonderful...I chilled at home. And by home, I don't mean Dunwoody - I mean H-O-M-E...where my parents are, where I grew up, and where I have all of my fond memories from the last 18 years.

Casie came with me - we went to hang with my parents and see my little nephew they were keeping for the day. She and I relaxed out on the front porch swing, and I remembered all those lazy summer days when I used to spend hours on that swing - writing, making up songs in my head and daydreaming about anything and everything. That little corner of the porch was my haven - my hideaway; it was my space that I claimed in the house. I camped out there on rainy days, wrote so many poems and stories, and when I was older, even had a first kiss there. Casie and I sat there and tried to remember what life was like before cell phones and boys, work and stress and responsibility... days when we could daydream about being a fairy princess rescued by her prince, and believed that one day we would live in a castle filled with anything we could ever want. I began to long for the days when all I had to worry about was what time Saved by the Bell came on, and which friend was going to come spend the night so we could stay up gabbing 'till the wee hours of the morning, ingesting every calorie in the pantry like we had the metabolism of a tapeworm and not thinking twice about it.

In the true spirit of reminiscence, we decided to "fast" from our cell phones. I did something that I haven't done since probably my freshman year in college, I (gasp) turned my phone completely off. And so did she. We hopped in the car and drove around the neighborhood to find a garage sale that we saw a sign for when we pulled in. As we drove around the block, I remembered it like the back of my hand...I pointed out where the bus used to stop for all my friends, the house of a boy I had a secret crush on, and all the neighborhood kids I used to babysit for. After some vintage record purchases (records.....do you remember them? I used to love to listen to my parents old 45's!), we headed out to eat lunch with the family. What a perfect day.

My head may be in a million places sometimes, but home is definitely where my heart is. :o)