You Are Home

We've been in Oregon for 5 months now and have really liked it here. Everything was still feeling pretty new though, and I found myself longing for things to feel comfortable and familiar the way they did in San Diego. I had been itching to get out of UCSD's graduate student housing after having lived there for six long years, but in my haste to leave I kind of discounted the feelings of familiarity that come from having lived somewhere a good, long time. I had forgotten that change, even change for the better, can still be challenging and still takes adjustment.

Having a baby is another huge adjustment, so I have been very surprised to discover that bringing Lucas into our family has brought to me some of those feelings of familiarity I had been longing for. Of course the passage of time and the creating of new memories is what will really do the trick in the long run, but I think that having this joyous event occur for us now has really helped to accelerate the process. Spending so much time at home recovering and getting to know Lucas has been wonderful and I am so thankful for the way he has brought our family together and helped our house become our home.

Peter Breinholt is one of my favorite music makers and he says it so beautifully in a way I never could:

Now sometimes
You dream
You see a house and they're waiting for you
You look up and they're smiling at you
With outstretched arms
Now wake up
Wake up
Cause everyone you love's around you
They're all here because they finally found you
You are home

(Peter Breinholt, "You Are Home" All The Color Green)