Giant hug

​I was talking with my friend Celeste Miller this morning (via e mail) and she was talking about having to spend the last two nights in a bed at a nursing home because of the weather where she lives.  Celeste is a surgeon at a hospital in Missouri and the roads were so bad, she ended up staying close by the hospital.  The nursing home was her best bet.

She was telling me how good it was to be back in her own bed and taking a shower in her own bathroom.  

It reminded me of an incident one night when we came home from being "on the road".  We lived in a wonderful house on Crestwood Dr. here in Fountain City.  We lived there for 16 years.  I still miss it.  That particular night, when we pulled into our driveway, I told Tommy it felt like we were getting a giant hug.  We had trees that hung over our driveway and it felt just like that to me...the trees were reaching down to hug us and welcome us home.

When we went inside, it felt like the house was hugging us.  When we got our shower and climbed into bed...once again....a hug.

Tommy says quite often, that one of the most beautiful words in the English language is HOME.  He says it feels good in your mouth.  I agree.

Sometimes, though, home can be in a place you wouldn't normally think of home.  I remember being in the desert in Mexico once, and coming up the dusty road at night to climb into my "home"....a tent lined up with a lot of other tents.  They all looked the same so I always hung a lantern in mine so I would know when I got "home".  

I remember the feeling when I went into that tent at night and crawled into my sleeping bag.  It felt like home and I felt, once again, that giant hug.  (I was also praying that there wasn't a creepy crawly in the bottom of my sleeping bag!)

We often stay at a place that is called "The Gathering Place" in Columbus, Indiana.  Our friend Joyce Sword owns it and is gracious enough to let us stay there when we are in the area (and we are in the area a lot!)  When we walk  in...once again...we get a giant hug.  When we curl up in front of her fireplace on couches that she bought just for us to sleep on...a hug!

Where do YOU feel like you are getting a giant hug?  It doesn't always have to be at the actual dwelling you call home.  Sometimes it can be in a place you wouldn't expect.  When it happens though, it is a feeling you carry with you and one that you look forward to happening again.  Here's hoping you get a giant hug today!