This has been an incredibly full week, it might even bring me to tears. So many people and thoughts and memories and moments—I couldn’t possibly fit it into a Thursday Three. I’m afraid though if I don’t say something, I’ll never manage to figure out what to say at all. After almost a week in our former home state, here’s the three.
1. Living in the moment sometimes means no photos. We’ve seen so many people that I’m tempted to just name everyone off. It has been wonderful to see people, to eat with them, do life with them. I want to breathe in every moment we have together and store up all the memories for a rainy day. And of all of those sweet memories, I might have two photos from the week because I didn’t want to break the moment for a photo. Call me crazy, but it was almost as if I have been holding my breath the whole time, not wanting it all to end, even if for a quick snapshot.
2. Hello, it’s been a year, goodbye. Most of our visits have basically consisted of these three phrases during our minutes or hours we have with friends, and it hardly seems to be enough. How do you explain everything that’s happened over the past year since we started this crazy adventure? How do you even begin to understand what the year has been like for them? Do you go straight for the direct questions or small talk your way there? Our time with friends has felt so fleeting, making it hard to have time to get to everything, much less process it.
3. We aren’t moving back any time soon. We’ve gotten this question a lot, whether or not we’d consider moving back to Iowa. I can’t say it’s altogether off the table, but we just don’t feel led to do that right now. We’ve loved our time here to visit. It hasn’t always been relaxing, but it has been rejuvenating as we were able to tap into friendships and hobbies that were almost forgotten. But Des Moines doesn’t have any holes with our name on it. It’s moved on, as it should. While bittersweet, it’s true. Our home is somewhere else now.