Going Home

Living in 4 places in 3 years of marriage has meant that the concept of "home" has changed a lot for us. Every time we move I think, It can't be as good as it was before. We can never make friends like these again. And when we settled down in North Carolina this summer, I discovered that I was--in no uncertain terms--absolutely wrong.

Instead of making us feel unsettled, it has given us the miraculously lucky circumstance of having tons of places--and people--that mean home.

These are the Nuckols, our adopted family. When things turned upside down on us in March, and we thought we would have nowhere to live they--barely knowing us, mind you--said, "Hey, we've got plenty of space. Come live with us!" And when we did, we got a new family. We ate dinner together, worked on crossword puzzles, hung out around the kitchen island, and did all the stuff that families do. We love them, forever.

Girl bonding with Jen

Mooching fruit from Susan in a new tutu

When they heard we were heading west, they invited us to come spend a night with them. We showed up the day before their annual Christmas Brunch (80+ people!) and settled in for an evening of brunch-prep (including a dinner of Panera, an egg casserole assembly line, 7lbs of bacon, and tons of delicious fresh fruit to be sliced and diced!). We also made time to slip out and visit Krystle for lunch, and Chris, Erin, and Mason in the evening. (Plus we were welcomed to CA on Monday by Allana, Jenna & her Steve, who trekked out from LA to visit us for a nice long evening of catching up and eating Chinese food!)

Gracie and Godmother Krystle:

Mason, Erin's legs, Gracie, and Steve's legs:

The next morning we woke up to a busy (and yummy smelling) kitchen, helped get the house in order, and had the first batch of fresh baked cinnamon rolls all to ourselves. Susan got up at 1am the night before, worked on them for 2 hours, went to sleep for 2 hours as they rose, and was up again at 5 working on them some more. Two hours total sleep for her, and she was still fresh and cheerful for the brunch. After the munching was over, we had a huge Christmas sing along, during which Gracie snagged as much attention as possible:

Perhaps the thing I am the most thankful for this year, is the growing number of people I can call home. (Steve and I agree that wherever the people we love are is home, so I guess the thing of it is that the people themselves are where the "home" feeling comes from.) In fact, the extended family we've gained in these few years is kind of incredible. The way I see it, we have someplace to call home in Colorado, Utah, San Diego, Encinitas, the Bay Area, and, of course, North Carolina. Talk about being lucky ducks.