You know Youtube has everything under the sun if you want to see or learn more about something just Youtube or google it. How it arrives at the gathering of a crazy amount of accessible information or tidbits on whatever is your fancy of knowing, I have not a clue. Information age is alive and kicking. But there are a couple of things things that I like to watch or listen to such as old music video clips or those planned/unplanned unexpected surprises of people seeing people or even masters seeing their pets. Hallmark moments!! The times when the heart meets the head and presto….tears of joy abound. I love that. It reminds me of the ending in the movie Love Actually at the airport where people greet people….where they have not seen each other for ages and hug. Glorious hugs. Crazy love. Tears of happiness. Jumping up and down. Shock and a burst of joyful sobbing. So many emotions run gamut across the faces of people as they meet after a few or even many moons have gone by for them.
Take for instance the military reunions, which there are a ton of them, old and more recent montages, of surprise visits from family or friends. It gets at my heartstrings every time. Some individuals have not seen their family in many many years, never mind months. They are deployed on missions that take them far far away to do their duty to own country and then all of a sudden you see them popping out of a Christmas box marked do not open until Christmas or they run across a sports event or tap them on the shoulder to get directions or are in a restaurant serving a meal at their family table. Or come into their own home, walk into the kitchen, and say hi. Can you imagine! It’s home.
That is what it feels like coming home. There is nothing like that moment when you find yourself in the arms of those you love or you walk across the doorstep to the smells and sights of the familiar. Ahh yes!! I could not wait to just feel the wrap of home surround me. As I traveled back home in early December after caring or gratefully visiting my Ontario family and friends, I thought of going down home. Back in my childhood that is what my dad would refer to our summer holiday visit to his homeland of NB….going down home. And now I have that same feeling because it has always held, the Maritimes, that down home feeling for me. Of course the closer I got to the bridge, the more I wanted to press on the gas. Thank the Lord for the super highway in NB….110 speed limit. Crazy smart I say.
Thankfully, it was a great drive, clear skies for the most part, dry roads and the beacon of light into darkness into light then to darkness (losing an hour or so) as I crossed four provinces to my doorstep. I have the trip down pat (bar outside of unexpected construction) of pitstops and service gas stations. I really like the Enroutes in Ontario, the rest stops in Quebec, and Big Stops in NB. Each provide the relief one needs. I do not take for granted the weather patterns across the provinces because they can get a bit harry at times especially in along provincial highway 20 up near Riviere de Loup then south toward NB. Don’t get me started on NB. You can find yourself in all kinds of weather states as one takes the super highway 2 — snowstorm, fog, freezing rain, wind gusts, sunshine, clear blue skies, and repeat. That is why it is important to know where the stops are along the way. Just saying.
But regardless I made it home safely. And this year it was particularly important to see how Fiona, the remnants of the hurricane weather that hit the island, and what it left in its wake. Coming over the bridge in late evening did not allow me to see what havoc the storm left in late September but in the morning….feld trees down. I know it does not compare to the unbelievable devastation that the souther states along Atlantic seaboard or the many southern islands countries either, and get yearly, but it did have a huge impact to many properties across the isle.
I cannot imagine what that would feel like, to leave your home for a bit and upon return there is nothing left. Can you fathom the magnitude of that feeling of loss and hopelessness! Holy lightning!! Holy moly! Holy to goodness!! It would be a Holy Lord or some facsimile there of. No words but a deep-seeded emotion within. Some people are stalwart in their ability to hold it in…I am not sure I would be. And yet, you thank the Lord of the many blessings you have. I think it is called life. Not easy to swallow the loss of the things but the preciousness of life and being safe. Oh my.
So home. Whatever that is to you! It comes in many shapes and sizes and ways I think. It can be a feeling. It can be a pair of arms. It can be a certain smell. It is different for everyone. I find it funny really. Not that I do not like or care about Ontario as I was born and raised there, but there is something about the Maritimes that draws me in and creates a home in my heart. It may be that time of my life where I appreciate my life more and the space and place I am in. I know that homey feeling from a hug, whether it be in the arms of my daughters or the little arms (or long arms) of my grandkids or that millionth hug from parents or siblings. Nothing like a big bear hug…..my brother gives great ones. 🙂 Thanks, brother. Or that special someone(s) in your life who makes you feel safe and cared for.
Coming home. So glad to be here. Wherever or whatever it looks and feels like it, I pray for those coming home and finding home for themselves, especially at this time of year when shelter is needed and necessary. Blessings.
Let us pray for those who are in need of prayers and for those who are homeless. Amen.
Karenpondering 