Homecoming...

"strange how certain the journey
time unfolds the petals for our eyes to see
strange how this journey's hurting
in ways we accept as part of fate's decree

so we just hold on fast
acknowledge the past
as lessons exquisitely crafted
painstakingly drafted
to carve us as instruments
that play the music of life..."
~Vienna Teng, "Eric's Song"

"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back?"~Frodo Baggins

Home. It's funny how family never really seems to change (though little brothers do tend to get bigger), remaining the great constant in my universe; almost four months absent bleeds away like a short trip when I see them at the airport, and we pick up right where we left off.
My parents and I went to Johanna's baptism on Sunday (the next day). I don't think she was expecting me, and standing waist high in water she gave me a smile when our eyes met. Her testimony was elegant and honest simplicity. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.
We also met up with Emily (Ward) there, and afterward she, Johanna and I, joined by Elizabeth McDaniels and Matt Elmore (!one of the last people I expected to see, and one of the best surprises of the weekend) wandered around downtown Rockford for the evening. A good day.
My first day back on campus yesterday, running errands and seeing many, many friends. Also a quick rehearsal for Willows. Cornerstone family: come next Tuesday at 7pm; amongst other things, possibly the last chance you will have to see me act.

In my own way, I know that Frodo was right. You can never really "go home" again, not to the home you left behind. Things change, times move on, and the cliche is true: you can never step in the same river twice. If nothing else, we have changed. And how can we express it? How do you answer "How was England?" We have seen the dreaming spires, slept in the Bodleian, walked the parks, and toasted or cursed the great men that came before. We have cooked, studied, played, walked, slept, lived alongside one another every day for fourteen weeks, brothers and sisters in arms, to the end. How do you explain an experience like that? It's like trying to describe the color "blue."

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more...