Feeling Home

This is long, so kick your shoes off, grab a drink, and enjoy.

If you have been following my blog, you probably know that I have been missing home a bit. Well in the last few weeks, I would say that I can finally say that I have been seeing small glimpses of home and it has made it easier.  I suppose you just have to appreciate the small things in life. For instance last Saturday I went over to the Brothers house and played Uno with one of my roommates and a few of the De La Salle Brothers. It was really nice just because it was relaxing and kind of a homey feeling. It was simple, but I think thats what I needed.

Then a few days later I was fortunate enough to teach my family about Google+ Hangouts. I have decided that even though the quality is worse than Skype the benefits are far better. It really made me happy to see all of my family at once and get to talk to them at the same time. And the kids were in bed so it was just like old times. My family is growing and it made me realize that I am too. Two of my sisters have two young kids, my other sister is in the process of buying a house and is in a serious relationship, my mom is looking to retire while my father recently started a new job. And me, young and full of hope, sits in San Francisco hoping that one day I will know what I should be doing. My family is busy at home and everyone seems to go to bed before 11pm anymore and yet, everyone was up hanging out with me until 11:30pm their time, it really made my day. Thanks family :)

Just this last week I had the opportunity to hang out with a previous coworker here on business and it was great. We were able to catch up and talk to each which was really good. I would say previously we were pretty good coworker friends, but after getting to hang out with him for 4 days, we became a lot closer. We talked about our lives and where they were headed; we talked about our short comings and our worries with life, but we also talked about our joys and passions in this world too. Neither of us ever stay up past midnight and I think 3 of the 4 nights we stayed up until 2 or 3am talking. It was just really good to have someone here that was and is apart of my life. With so much new in my life it was really good to have that. We talked about family, relationships, work, technology, scotch, and hard times in our lives. It was a good conversation that I feel like I have been lacking here in SF.

If you have known me for the last 4 years a recent passion of mine has been running and biking. One of the things I have been lacking here in SF is long bike rides and just running in general. Since long bike rides out on the open road isn't really possible in San Francisco I must resort to running. If I'm lucky I run once a week right now and that just cannot do anymore. Running is my release, it is my stress reliever, it gives me time by myself, it allows me to think... or not think. I'm starting to realize that running is not only my passion, but also my sense of home, the one thing I can always take with me. So pondering over this the last few days, I bought new running shoes (because my last ones were literally falling apart) on Sunday. Since then, I have yet to get out and run. So, today is the day, and I'm excited.

I always talk about home being in Iowa, but feeling home, sometimes you have to realize, can be right where you are, with the people you are now sharing experiences with. I had this realization on Monday. Two of my roommates were in a car accident going to work. Before I continue, yes, everyone is alright, just sore. My roommate fell asleep at the wheel while driving himself and another roommate to work. The car hit the median and flipped. If you know my story at all, this hits home very much for me. I'm so happy that they are only bruised and battered and nothing else. It is definitely weird being on the sidelines, rather than the one in the car. You really realize how much you care for them. Thank God. Thank God. It's allowed me to look into my past and rethink my whole experience of my car accident. Surprisingly its still hard to talk about and I'm not sure if I will ever be able to tell the full story, but hopefully my roommates will be able to start to see why life is so important to me. I really appreciate all of them. They are just like my sisters, I'm annoyed when I'm around them all the time, but would miss them way too much if they weren't there. So I will appreciate the time I have with them and share and enjoy the lives we have begun together out here.

Lastly, this morning I had a great text message from my mother. She is coming for Thanksgiving! I'm pretty excited about it. So it will be good to see her in a month!