January 19, 2016

Home


I never thought home would need to be a place. I thought I could go full hippie and be at home wherever my family unit laid their heads. Maybe with more travel experience I can get to that mindset, but right now, Colorado is my home.

Maybe it's the years spent here that make it comfortable and familiar. More likely it's just an awesome place to live and I never want to leave again. ...Just kidding, I still want to travel, but I'll always want to come back.

Since we didn't have any renters in January, and since we missed it terribly, we decided to come check on the house. So we made the overnight drive and noticed right away how our perception of things had changed.

1. This Colorado house is way too big. Our petite AR house is the perfect size. (Mr. Go would probably tell you it's still too large.) This bi-level CO house is actually stressful for me to keep clean, and keep track of everything (and everyone).

Not to mention all the running up and down the stairs... ugh. I've been spoiled living the last 6 months ranch-style. No matter what else I say about that AR box we live in, at least it doesn't have stairs.

2. Our bodies had to adjust back to the dry climate. I realized I need to drink 27x as much water as I did in the swamp climate of Arkansas or I'll dry out like a sponge. Plus, you just can't go more than 10' from a tube of chapstick, or you'll be very, very sorry.

when you live in CO, you roll up your sleeves in the winter

3. The best paradigm shift when coming home after half a year away was realizing how important our friends are. Some of our friends we hadn't seen for months before leaving, but the very first thing Mr. Go did was have some of them over to hang out. We took them for granted, but we'll definitely be appreciating them a lot more in the future.

It really is the people that make the home, but it's not just your family unit-- it includes all the people you leave behind when you travel.