RETURN TRIP
It often strikes me that the return trip from vacation takes longer than it did to go away.
The last fifty miles or so of road home seem endless! That final fifty makes you want to get back home where you belong... makes you wonder if going away was such a bright idea after
all.
Another idea haunts me so often in those last few miles before getting home. Suppose our house had burned down while we were gone! Everything gone! Where would we all stay that night? Who would take you in? What would become of all of you? Then, the last mile or so. You inspect the sky and don't see any billowing smoke from houses on fire and don't see any billows of black smoke, then, sure enough. You turn the corner and there's your house right where you left it. Every thing is the same except the grass has grown another inch or so and needs mowing. There is such a feeling of gratitude from being home that you even anticipate the privilege of revving up the mower and doing the lawn again.
You are thankful, too you have found your favorite spot once more after a week or so of wandering in strange places. There is comfort in familiar surroundings and the fact that you all arrived home without physical damage is seen as a special blessing.
I happen to be writing this during the Labor Day Week End period which is often a costly time for us in human lives lost or injuries sustained. I wonder,as I write, how many parents and grandparents are sharing the same thoughts and concerns about their traveling offspring this day.
A.L.M. August 31, 2003 [c279wds]
