Be it ever so humble...

I'm sitting here 'til my mommy comes home!

There is no place like home!!  Curled up in my over stuffed chair after a nice hot shower (that had enough pressure to actually rinse my hair) with a cup of hot coffee and my fur babies all over the living room.  I am so glad to be home. 

Oh it isn't perfect.  It could be cleaner and more organized.  But it is comfortable! It is safe and it is cozy.  I feel like things are right surrounded by my family (two and four legged)... I feel completely in balance.

I had a great time with my peers at the training in Springfield.  I met some new folks, some of whom I am sure I will keep in touch with.  I wasn't able to get an internet signal, even though they claimed there was one.  I didn't get a chance to write my blog, it made me feel out of sync.  This has become a normal part of starting my day and when I don't have that time... well I just feel like I have forgotten something, it feels incomplete.

Springfield was quite a unique experience for me.  I really enjoyed it there and felt that I could move there and enjoy it.  I never met a single unfriendly or grouchy person.  Everyone was polite and kind.  It was like being in Mayberry with bigger buildings.  Now I will admit that I was only in the downtown area.  But I really liked it.  I loved how they combine the oldest buildings with the newer ones.  It is not a utopia, it is real.  There are boarded up buildings and for sales signs sprinkled throughout.  But they lack the graffiti and broken windows that I am used to.

It's a college town, but not like other ones I have been to.  It wasn't a solid wall of young people, it was a complete mix of people of all ages.  There were coffee shops, but they were not everywhere.  I would say there were far more breweries than coffee shops.  We sat outside and enjoyed dinner in outside pubs.  I never felt danger, not once.  Which is strange to me for a downtown area.  I am used to a rougher element.  An edgy feeling that keeps you on your toes.

Springfield was calmer, quieter.  I am sure it has busy days, I am sure there are times in the year when it is crazy.  We weren't there during that time and I really enjoyed it.  It felt like a little big town.  It was bigger than a place I usually feel at home in, and yet it wasn't.  I felt at home there.

I didn't enjoy being away from home.  I hated not having a comfortable chair to sit in at the end of a long day.  But I loved the time I got to spend with Mandy and "the boys" (as our boss called them).  We laughed and bonded.  Discovered things we didn't know about each other.  There were late evening chats and shared experiences.  Too many cups of coffee, and stale pretzels (ugghhh - that was unpleasant).  There was a nightly beer or two and shared stories of families and pets.  That part was priceless...

But I am so happy to be home!  Things happened that I wanted to be home to help with... my grand kitty had major surgery and I was too far away to support my girl as she struggled through it all.  I am so grateful for text and internet so that I could be there if only remotely. My boy made decisions that I thought were amazing!  But I could only be supportive via instant message.  As a mom those things were very hard for me.  My hubby was lonely and my boys missed mommy so much.  My Gator is still irritated at me.

What do you mean?  Leaving again???

I will enjoy the next four days home with the family. Then it is off to the next trip away from home.  For a homebody such as me... it is so hard to be so far away from "my life force"...