Suddenly Six!: Home Sweet Home

Home is the place where I can always go to and nothing ever changes.
And that is a good thing because it is a place of rest, comfort and love.

Home is filled with memories. Memories of my childhood that are so close still, I feel as if I can reach out and jump into them.

Home is a little town, 30 miles West of Chicago called Warrenville.

Home is a muggy Saturday afternoon in July,
a dusty softball field,
the orange dust making my mouth dry...
Chasing bees in left field,
wiping sweat from my visor,
waiting for a pop fly,
shielding the sun with my glove,
so I can catch it...
and be the hero.
My Mom cheering for me from the bleachers,
and my Dad, the coach, from the dugout.

Home is cracked sidewalks,
peddling my pink bicycle as fast as I can
with my heavy bag of library books,
my wobbly bike
tipping dangerously to one side...

perhaps stopping at the penny candy store on the way home.

Home is mounds and mounds of fluffy snow,
the hairs in my nostrils freeze with every breath,
watching snowflakes through the slit of my itchy wool scarf.
The sound of snow makes my ear drums throb.
The silence is so deep.
Deep enough that it goes up to my knees
and down my boots
and makes my toes numb.

Home is homemade chicken soup,
after a night of trick or treating.
Warming my chilled hands,
so I can sort through the candy,
and eat it until I feel sick.

I swear I still hear the echos of the neighborhood kids on my street.

I still have the secret pathways through the forest memorized.

I still feel safe when I lay in bed, listening to the crickets outside through my open window.

I want to introduce the magic of this place to my children.
It is difficult to convey how I feel about the place I grew up in.
So I want them to experience it for themselves.
And I could see that Evelyn was enchanted by it all,
By the house,
by the hidden, secret places,
by the imagination it brings out.

I haven't been home in a year, the longest I've been away in my entire life.
I expected to be away even longer; but, this opportunity to come home and introduce the boys to my extended family and friends came up suddenly.
I am so so grateful to be with family, the people who will always be apart of me, no matter the distance.

The week was a whirlwind of visiting and holding babies and eating cakes. I was so honored to have relatives from near and far venture over to hold and kiss and cuddle my kids. There was constant noise and conversation. There was food and festivity. Some days, the boys had too much love, and we had to let them regroup in the other silent rooms.

Perhaps the most memorable adventure was our field trip to my Grandma's Catholic church. Every Wednesday she has coffee with a group of women after Mass. Our babies and their story has been a topic of conversation and awe for months and months, and they were all so eager to meet everyone.

So per my Grandma's request, Amanda, my mom and I loaded up the kids in the mini van; and despite the pouring rain that morning, we unloaded them all into the church and strolled them through the aisle way through Mass and into the "Parish Life" room.
Upon our entrance, there was a standing welcome and we were immediately taken over by church women.

The head Priest even held the boys. Amanda and I just stepped back and took it all in.
We couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

Here we are, about to go through mass...please don't cry now boys!

The Church Ladies can't get enough of the boys

Evie had a pretty good time too. Sprinkle covered donuts!

Levi looks so happy in this lady's arms!

And they drank coffee...

And held babies...

Until the boys decided they had enough.

On Sunday when we drove the two cars back to the airport (yes, it took 2 vehicles to make this work...) I found myself eager to go home.
To my home.
The place where John and I have our life and raise our family.

It's strange. I'm realizing that Home can be two places, two places where there is love, and comfort and memories.

I hope that one day my kids can return to this home and feel the same way I feel about my childhood home.