Being Away and Coming Home

I dashed down to the Bay Area on Tuesday and returned yesterday. It gave me enough time for too-short visits with people-who-matter while taking care of some personal business. It was an easy enough trip; good flights, no delays, everything flowed along as it should have. I enjoyed seeing and spending time with said people. Those are the connections you take with you when you move a life. The telling part of the trip was returning to Poulsbo, "coming home". That's what I did. I realized that I truly live up here now and that "coming home" was immensely satisfying. I have been asked by folks how we could be sure it was the right thing to do when we decided to take our lives and move them to a place we had only visited for a weekend, to a house we had only seen for 20 minutes. It's something we have never really questioned. It was right from the moment we saw it and we would both agree that it has been right ever since. Those few folks who have visited have expressed confirmation of the decision. They get it. You don't have to be here very long to feel it.

It rained a little overnight and more might occur this weekend. This morning about 8:30 we lost power. The report said a tree had fallen across a line. They repaired it by 9:30 but it gave us a reason to figure out how to manually open the gate at the end of the driveway and to take a trip into the post office and then to a local coffee house we've been wanting to try. John was out gathering blackberries in my absence Tuesday and Wednesday. There is once again a large colander of the yummy gems. If the rain holds off, we will go to the Blackberry Festival in Bremerton on Saturday where they might have more ideas for ways to use this bounty. Otherwise, more jam will be made and distributed to friends, old and new. A blackberry and apple crumble has been requested by our much anticipated visitors later this month. That can surely be provided. (Only one?) If our vegetable garden grows as well as these wild brambles, we shall need to set up a booth at the Farmers' Market next year!

It's nice to be "home"...