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On Christmas Day I headed HOME!
I headed HOME to the family I left behind 17 long months ago!

I headed HOME on Christmas Day!
I wanted to be a CHRISTMAS gift!
Yep!
That was the plan!
I decided to give my family THE GIFT OF ME...on Christmas Day!
Have you ever decided to GIVE~YOURSELF as a GIFT?
Try it!
I promise!
Giving yourself as a GIFT...brings about bounds of JOY!

It's difficult to describe how I felt during the weeks leading up to my departure.
I have no idea WHY or HOW I ended up not returning HOME for well over a year
after leaving my family behind to begin life in the Northwest.
I do know...
 that when I left...
I could have never~ever~ever dreamed of staying gone
for that long.

During the days and weeks prior to leaving...my emotions were all over the place.
The very thought of embracing my parents almost took my breath away.
The thought of their SMILES...and the gleam in their eyes...
softened my tender heart...
and flooded my soul with the sweetest of sentiment.

It was like I had created a little spot in my heart.
A tiny little place where I had departmentalized them.
Without even realizing...I had placed them in this sacred little place.
It was the only way I was capable of leaving them behind...and moving my life so very far away.
And now...I was allowing them to step OUT.
Out into the forefront of my HEART!

I know this sounds heavy.
And it was.
The emotions were heavy and tender and raw.

At the end of my yoga classes I would fight back the tears.
Once I got in my car and cried...big heavy.....JOYFUL....heavy...tears....all the way home.
I had never~ever experienced anything like it.

So I wrote to them.
I wrote to my parents.
I wrote to let them know just how much I loved them.
I wrote to let them know just how much I had missed them.
I wrote to thank them...
for supporting me...for helping to create within me all that I needed to soar in my new world.
I wrote to let them know how much I love my new life...so very far away from them.
I wrote to share my heart.
I wrote so that they might know this new person I have grown to be.
I wrote so that as soon as they saw me...they would know.
They would KNOW me.
They would KNOW my HEART.
And they would know just how enormous my LOVE is for them.
I didn't have one moment to spare.
I needed them to know.

And once I knew they KNEW
...the tears subsided.
The tears stopped flowing...and the purest JOY I have ever known began to GLOW!
The heavy~ness of it all lifted.
My emotions were as light as a feather.
I was ready.
I was ready for HOME.
After seventeen long months...I was ready to combine the worlds.
I was ready to bring my new world HOME.
HOME to all I had ever known and LOVED.

I'll never forget the look on my Daddy's face.
There he stood.
I kept walking...closer and closer.
He was the one.
He was the only one.
He had requested to pick me up at the airport.
What a moment.
It was like magic.
His smile was BEAMING.
I'll never forget.
He kept his sweet hand on my back the entire way down the escalator to baggage claim.
And then we drove.
We drove and we drove.
We drove towards HOME...
our HOME..."in the country"...that I had left behind...so long ago.

And then we arrived.
Shortly before mid~night...I arrived.
When I walked into that room...and was greeted by my family...
it was honestly one of the most JOYFUL~LOVING moments...
I KNOW
...I will ever KNOW.

On Christmas Day I headed HOME!

On Christmas Day I headed HOME...
to the family I left behind.

I'll never~ever~ever~never stay gone that long again...
from HOME!
XXOXOXO
Looking forward to sharing HOME...with YOU!