Homecomings

I've been experiencing homecomings lately.

Last weekend was Bethel's Fall Fest -- homecoming weekend. And homecoming in another sense, as Ross and I went our separate ways and I stayed in my old mod, with my old modmates (who are all a year younger than me and so were all there, with the exception of one who is studying in Ecuador). I slept my old futon mattress which I've long-term loaned to Meredith. I had coffee with a favorite professor -- really a mentor and friend -- whose office I used to stop by frequently for good conversation. As before, I stood around a bonfire in the woods, had a couple of beers, and talked to the people I already knew. It felt like home.

This weekend, I went to Kansas City. The impetus came from a good friend informing me a few weeks ago that she was planning to go wedding dress shopping and another friend (also in the wedding party) was flying in to visit too. Affordable plane tickets and the desire to see my family convinced me. I stayed at my parents' house, slept in my comfortable bed in my ice-cold room. I visited with my grandpa for a few hours and helped him move plants inside, anticipating a freeze. The house, and the family, has changed since it was really my home. I am comfortable there, but it is not my space any longer.

I went out for drinks with Laura and Lauren and talked about our jobs and long-term relationships, which felt good but reminded us that we're at least two life stages beyond sleepovers in Lauren's basement, which happened almost literally half our lifetimes ago (granted, our lifetimes are not that long yet). I'm grateful for these friendships, for relating despite living in three different cities, having spent four years mostly apart, and not really knowing each other's significant others.

And now I've come home -- really home -- to my apartment in Denver. Ross is here, and Jess and other friends, and all my stuff, and a shower and toilet that I am used to. It is freezing cold like my parents' house and with friends like Bethel, but this is my space.