Never been more homesick than now......

Sometimes you just never know when you are the answer to someone's prayer. I've prayed often that my own prayers would be answered, but perhaps my desires should be turned to how can I be that "angel among us" that blesses some one else?

Recently I became close friends with a sweet gal that told me she had never been quite so homesick as she was right now. I thought of the times I have been homesick and it made me ponder....just what does it mean to be homesick? 

I came across a saying that reads, "The worst feeling in the world is the homesickness that comes over a man occasionally when he is at home”. It made me think that perhaps the true meaning of homesick may not have any thing to do with home but rather with people and situations we are longing for.

I remember when I was an exchange student in Japan. I longed for family, friends, food, country, and familiar surroundings. I don't know that I was ever more patriotic for my homeland than any other time. Although I appreciate other cultures and beauties of the earth, there just never is anything as comforting than the memories you have of "familiar things".

This picture was taken in August of 2008. We were gathered for my father's funeral. Although this was a sad time for us all in losing someone so special, it gave us the opportunity to forget the world and reunite together. We laughed, cried, remembered and celebrated the life and memories of my Dad. Seems like such a simpler season now that I look back on that time. I get homesick for my Dad and mostly just about the way things "used to be". 

It's hard to believe that this picture was taken only one month before my dad's passing. He always looked so good, even when he was at his sickest and painful times. I get homesick for his humor and his counsel. What a wonderful man!

Speaking of humor, it seems I've been blessed with a lot of that in my life. Here are my "men in black" --styling their hats, their sunglasses and their watches. What a happy time! Thomas is so far away and I know he has to long for the familiar things we shared while he was here. I know we do! So glad Jon could share in those times with us!

I suppose the best thing about being homesick is there are reunions! What a great memory it was to surprise Kenny for his 30th birthday! Something about when you are a mom, you long for your children on their birthdays!  So much reflection and gratitude for the opportunity of having these offspring "loaned" to us while we are here on earth!

This gathering was in Utah to celebrate time with Jeremy! Seems like yesterday, but yet seems like an eternity ago. It's hard having your family away from you but makes the times together even more appreciated. I expect I will take as many trips to his home as possible as he will give us our first grandchild in August! I suppose that separation will give a whole new definition of "homesickness"!

Most of your know our "baby" got married this Fall and we were able to have Katelyn and her husband live with us for 4 months before they returned to college/married life. This picture was taken on an American Idol tour we went on together. Oh how I miss those special times we had together but I know we will yet have many more in the future!

In fact one of those times will be next week! Ken and I will travel together to meet all our kids and their spouses in Utah. We will go to a Gonzaga/BYU basketball game. We will be wearing RED! Go ZAGS!

Another definition for homesickness that I came across shared this idea, “It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.”

Although I have much yet to do on this earth, I look forward to the time when we will go to heaven. A place that may be unfamiliar, but yet feel at home. Can you imagine the reunion we will have there? I suppose if I had to give this homesickness a definition of my own it would be.....longing for the familiar, appreciating the past so much that we long for it again.

This music probably tells it better than I can. "Homesick" by Mercyme!