Milestones on a Journey Home

(Left: Doug takes a break on the couch before it's loaded into the truck.)

I returned home this week to check up on my youngest sister and my Grandmother. My parents are away in New Zealand, soon to return. While I was home my friends Karen and Justin moved into their new house. It's such an exciting event and I was thrilled to be part of it.

(Right: The new backyard complete with a crop circle.)

The fun started at 8am on Saturday when we all congregated at Karen and Justin's apartment. I was there with Elaine, Derek, Karen's Dad, Justin's Dad, Doug and Myles. We had one rental truck, 2 pick-up trucks, 1 van and 3 cars. Between all those vehicles we moved it all over to the house by noon.

(Left: Doug and Justin move the couch into the truck.)

Getting some of the furniture out of the apartment was a bit of a challenge for the boys. Karen was inside still packing stuff up with the help of Parker, Justin's son. It was so cute! He was the little helper and so eager to help! He is such a well-behaved kid.

In the process of packing there was a white and blue vase that kept floating around. For whatever reason it didn't get packed so everyone one kept passing it off to someone else. Elaine nicknamed it the "Ming" (As in Ming Dynasty) So there are several pictures of this thing now because it's a 'priceless heirloom'.

(Right: Doug's coffee holder. AKA the 'Ming')

Once we got to the new house Karen was needed in order to tell people where to put things so I took over keeping an eye on Parker. We went downstairs and played hockey in the rec room with his kid size hockey sticks and a foam puck. Thank goodness it was foam because he really has a good swing with that stick. It wasn't really a hockey game but more of a toss the puck back and forth kind of thing even though I set up goal posts using the DVD stands. I think Parker probably slept well that night after all that exercise - I know I did.

(Left: The second casualty of the day. The first was Karen's bottle of Oregano.)

After the furniture and boxes had been brought in I set about trying to take photos of all the rooms. I thought it would be good for them to have a before and after shots of the place. Parker found me taking pictures of the rooms and from that moment on decided he wanted to be in the pictures. It was SO CUTE! As soon as I set the camera up to take the picture he would run in front of the camera and stand on his tip toes and stick his chin up to make sure he was in the picture! So picture this series of photographs of just ordinary rooms in a house with Parker's head in the bottom centre of every one! I'm gonna print them out for Karen and Justin and stick them in a little album cause they're so cute.

(Right: Doug takes the legs off the table to get it downstairs.)

I had also wanted the photos of the rooms to post on my web gallery so Karen could send the link to friends and family she wanted to show the house to. Since we all agree that Parker's picture should not end up on the internet therefore I had to sneak around later when Parker wasn't looking and take a second set of photos without him in them.

I left around 2 or 2:30 cause I was SO tired and still had to take my Grandmother to church and out for dinner. I managed in between that to get the DVD for Karen and Justin done that I promised I would do of their wedding photos. I had been working on it for months and I was so glad to finally finish it. I had to do the rest of the work on my Dad's computer but it worked out better cause his is faster.

My visit home turned out like all the others and was FAR too short. I look forward to my trip home at Easter in which I don't have to do ANYTHING!

I have to admit that the trip turned out better than I had expected. I was sad going there because I had expectations of this trip and they fell apart a number of weeks ago. I had not really gotten over that loss completely and I was sure I'd be so miserable thinking about what could have been. With the exception of one sad moment I didn't let any of it drag me down.

It wasn't easily done at certain points. Being home always puts me back in the position I was when I left and that was the one of the outcast. I have very little in common with my TB friends now. They are all married and some have kids. I suppose that is what people my age should be doing. I'm not one of them. I have a temporary job and a temporary place to live and I've never had a long-term boyfriend let alone a husband.

It's hard at at time like last Saturday to not feel sad. You see how happy your friends are and you can't help but wish you had a little of that too. I want a home and a family of my own too. What I don't understand is why it's so easy for some to find it and almost impossible for others.