I have to laugh at myself as I prepare to go to my hometown and rural area of Arkansas tomorrow. You see, while its a weekend trip to see a few friends, its also “coming home from the city” Those of us who are country girls at heart know that the “city girls” bring home the latest fashions, news, and hairstyles. Well friends, I apparently didn’t make the transition to city girl for I am woefully short on the news, fashions and hair….in fact, if I don’t do something about it today, they’ll know a year in the city indeed did make my hair go gray!….or was it the teenager? And apparently I am bloating from malnutrition in a size larger than last year!
Some folks think of the fun the weekend should pack, I’m more concerned with where ARE those clean things I washed yesterday….if she has cute clothes lined out for Pappa’s expectations of how a 12 year old should be dressed….and how to allow a 15 year old to do homecoming at his old school without giving him free rein in a town without supervision…..and yes, there is that whole how to time the 8.5 hour drive then drop one child to a friend, drive 40 more miles and get a girl to her Pappa, connect with an appointment, then drive back to the homecoming…..see another friend and fit in all the “gotta see them while I’m here because after all they won’t be there forever” folks I love…..and somehow in the midst of it all, relax and enjoy the weekend.
Meanwhile, I look around this house in 25 degree weather outside and think…what can I cook up to let husband know he’s loved and provided for while I am gone with the children?
Trips home to Arkansas are rare these days…….at least to my father’s part of the state….and each time I go my heart is tugged at a life lived differently in a rural town far away from the city we live in now…….its a precious place, the kind of which are so few and far between now, where folks spend their whole lives in one county never leaving the area…..who know personally 3 and 4 generations of families in their churches and schools……..I look forward to the time there, and will appreciate what is as we journey through.
God is good!
