Arriving Home & Heartbreak

The final entry, ending our Mexico travels . . . brings me, at long last, home. Awwwwwwwwwww, home. Such a simple word, but how very much it holds with in those four letters. Little does one value nor realize what "home" really feels like until you are away ... for a good length of time.

We left Redding, nesting along familiar routes and sites. Often we travel south from Jacksonville towards California so it's like seeing ole' friends driving this road. As we pass the agricultural fields freckled with olive trees, some cherries and stretching fields, one of my hallmark sites is Mt. Shasta (can you see it there, far in the distant horizon?), her first sighting here in this sketch, top left. Once weaving thru the mountains and over the Siskiyou Pass, we coast down into the Rogue Valley. My heart begins to relax, soften. An anxiety begins to disappear. Sights like the pink mornin' fog across the valley from Ashland, makes me smile. We stop in Medford and unhook the RV from the PT Cruiser, thinking it would be easier to quickly back in the RV into our driveway. This affords me a quiet, wide vantage point and I nearly cry seeing the joyful giant poppies crafted and planted by Cheryl Garcia (http://www.greatmetalwork.com/Exhibits.aspx) in the South Stage Cellars vineyards just south of Jacksonville. Of course, this view went into my journal! I'm happily home.

The adjacent page is a less joyful statement. Some conversations about Mexico and the possibility of moving there have caused some tension and very personal introspect for my hubby and I. This illustration hopefully gives you a "feeling" for my experience. I relish these kinds of emotional posts (not the painful part) but the invention of how to express outwardly, my inner. You can see I've incorporated an actual needle and (from my wonderful "Assemblage Artist Friend, Dale Muir) an actual porcupine quill! Love to hear what you, my readers take away from the image - to see if I was successful.

I remain . . . blessed and loving being home. Appreciate your traveling all the way to Mexico and back with me. Now my daily adventures here in Southern Oregon begin. You see . . . the lessons n-e-v-e-r end :)

Nor do I want them to . . .