We (meaning my family) get together with others to share the evening meal on a regular basis. It's just a good meal with the kids running wild while the adults sit around the table and laugh and chat. I love doing this and look forward to it every single time.
Recently during one of our meals, the adults were all sitting around the table chatting.....probably about Hawaii. Talk always turns to Hawaii because out of the six adults, five have lived there. Guess who hasn't? Yep. Miss Hope. Anyway, The Man made the comment to the table at large that until I met him, I had never done any travelling to speak of. I interjected to say that I had, too, travelled. I went to D.C. for my first honeymoon and ventured into North Carolina a time or two. One guest asked how far West had I been before I met him and I shrugged and said Georgia. Shocked faces all around.
I was uncomfortable with the scrutiny and got up to start cleaning....wanting to change the subject.
I finally talked with my husband yesterday and said that when he makes a comment like that...it makes me feel like some uneducated backwoods hick that he came in and rescued. That's not the case. I consider myself educated and even have a cache of .50 words I like to bring out every now and again. I had no need to travel is all. I had everything I needed and wanted where I was. I had my people, a good home, and really nice places to visit in a 100 mile radius. I was aware of our great country and, sure, I thought about seeing some things. One day. But, I didn't come from a rich family. Let me amend that statement. My family wasn't rich with money...but we were rich in so many other ways. My Dad grew up moving 14 times during his 5K-12th grade years. He was sent to Vietnam for an extended vacation. Therefore, he's never been one to have to travel. So, we didn't. When I married the first time? We didn't have the money to travel, either. So, surely, after the divorce...being a single mom of two nipped in the bud any thoughts I might have had of seeing more than the next day.
I went on to tell him that I have something that means much more to me. I got a piece of land on this Earth that I call home. When I walk on this piece of land, my soul is soothed and I feel peace. No matter where I go, that piece of land is there waiting and the thought of it helps me when things get tough and seem hard to handle. There are trees there from my childhood that make you lean back to see the top of. I can point out particular spots that make me chuckle because that's where my brother and I got in trouble some how or another.
I know he's done some extensive travelling and seen the world. Thanks to the United States Navy and being part of a family that could travel and visit when he was growing up. He also moved alot growing up due to his Dad's job. He will say his "home" or "birth place" is Tucson, Arizona....but his Mom and Dad aren't there now.
Until I met The Man, I had no reason to travel. But, we did meet. And decide to try out that Happily Ever After Deal we had heard so much about.
I looked at him as we drove down the road and informed him.....
"You gave me the joy of seeing new places. I gave you a home."
I'd say we're about even.
8 comments:
Traveling is great, but having a real home to come back to is even better. A lot of people never look forward to coming "home." I always do. It's not the miles you have on you that matter...it's the experiences that do. I can attest to the fact that you've had MANY experiences. Where you've had them doesn't matter.
And I just have to add this in....I'm so HONORED that you'd add me in your list of family! I just had to sit here in awe for a minute!
My husband does the same thing. It really burns me up, too. Just because he has a dad who worked for the military and got to take great business trips all over the world, AND take his son along, does not mean he is better and/or more educated than me. Me? Before I got married, I'd been to SC, NC, GA, and FL. That was it. And there is nothing wrong with it!
Coty and Miss Hope. Thank Heavens for the Navy. It helped our men get the traveling bug out of their system. Last year I actually attended my husband on one of these visits to Paris. It was so much fun. That was my first trip out of the US - except a random trip or two over the border into Canada as a kid growing up in Upstate NY.
Miss Hope - You'll have to come visit us in San Diego. . . Just to say you did.
That's nice Hope...
There's no place like home and I know the man feels that way when he's with you.
And...until you've lived in the woods like we have..you should'nt knock it, some of my fondest memories are there..(at least you had a stop light)
Home is wherever your family is and wherever and whoever you visit or meet along the way... is just icing on the cake.
OneHung has been a few more places than you, but he's anything but a traveller. He'd like to, but he keeps finding himself on vacation in the same spot (you know where).
Traveling is fun, but once you find "home" the need is no longer there.
Home is where my family is at, my Dh, Ds, and Dd. Where ever God puts us as long as we are together we are home. We don't know if we'll stay here or if God will put us somewhere else, we'll just have to see.
I live in NJ. I've been to DE, PA, MD, NY, VA, NC, GA, FL, MO, KS, KY, AZ, CA, NM, IL, CT, NV, and CO. I've checked out Canada (Nova Scotia, Halifax and New Brunswick), the Bahamas, Merida (Mexico), Bermuda, St. Martin's, St. Thomas, and Puerto Rico.
If you'd asked me before I wrote them all down, I'd have said I don't travel much, but I guess it's all in how you look at things and where you're standing when you do.
And where do I *want* to go? HI, AK, and every other state I've missed along the way, Paris, London, Rome, the Vatican...
But I can honestly say that no matter where I've gone, I couldn't wait to come home! That old phrase, "Home is where the heart is," them's words to live by, Miss Hope! And one of the biggest words both my DH and I use to describe ourselves is "homebody."
I'd rather be home than anywhere, as much as I'd love to see all those other places...
Miss Hope ... there are times I wish I had a place to call "home". But then again, home is where the family is. My sister and I were blessed in the fact that we had grandparents who liked to travel and took us along with them. Being Navy brats brought some of that too, but mostly we lived in SC (and a few other places before settling in FL for a solid 10 years). Personally I love visiting different places, and am glad that I have had the chance to do so. I am thankful for the Navy because I have gone places, and will go places that I would probably never go otherwise because we wouldn't be able to afford it.
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