Headin' Home...

Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home. - James Joyce



I often ponder the meaning of home. Growing up, I moved 16 times before I was 15. As an adult, I've stayed in this same general area, yet moved 19 more times - (each time the rent went up!). So my idea of 'home' was never a box with a door on it. My idea of home has always been centered on my family.

As a child, my friends changed as easily as addresses. I never knew how to keep friends longer than a year, but as an adult I’ve been fortunate to have friends who don’t let go. They remain close even when I let time slip between us. My family’s love is unconditional and now I’ve found that with my friends as well.

Home is still built upon my family but now includes my friends. My valued family of friends.

An Independent Nature...

This 4th of July celebration was spent well outside my city limits. I ventured west to my brother's house and enjoyed a real neighborhood celebration. It was an amazingly different experience for me. It was Urban Americana at it's surreal best.

The neighbors all had the BBQ set up with lawn chairs in place for their little neighborhood fireworks display. Cute kids ran about like fireflies. Each man of the household pulled from their own bounty of fireworks as they took turns one-upping each other with lighting the next round. Not even a slow steady rain would slow them down. It took a brave old toad hopping through their battlefield to provoke a time-out. The rain continued, but it was my brother, the one who hangs with the Mensa crowd, who got under a big black umbrella as he lit one of the ‘big ones’. My brother is not a quitter. He played his best game. I believe he won the game with this move, sadly no one noticed due to all the smoke and rain.

As I left a few hours later, I paused to take in the quiet clean air, however it was thick with the most intense sounds from the neighboring nature. Frogs, crickets and birds, all boldly celebrating independence.



(My little American sparrow drawn as vectored lineart in Illustrator - 2009)