So Travel Lightly In My Heart

Carpenter's Bluff Bridge

So travel lightly in my heart
You and I will never part
And far beyond this world we see
There's a place for you and me ~ Rodney Crowell


I went home this week to a place I haven't lived in for thirty years.  This little town will always be home in my heart even though all the family has moved on.  As I drove down the highway that connects me to my memories, I thought about all the different roads we'd all gone down.  Some of my childhood friends stayed; some of us moved on but still carry those rolling hills and muddy creeks close when we think about home.

My friends and I met to see another one go Home.  Her journey here on earth ended far too soon and we joined together to remember and laugh and cry.  Together.  To wish we had done it sooner.  To wish we hadn't waited for when we weren't as busy or for when our children were grown.  To promise each other that we would all find a time to get together and share our lives with friends who "knew us when."

My sweet friend would have loved seeing us there.  She would have been in the middle of us all, laughing about driving out to a country cemetery to find the glowing tombstone, driving down a one-lane rickety bridge across the river, carving notches in her dashboard every time she had a wreck in her old car.  She was smart and funny and, most of all, loyal to her friends.  She loved with a big heart and I will miss her always.

Driving back, I thought about the home I've made with my family.  I wish for my kids the happy memories I have of growing up and the kind of friends you can just sit down with and pick up right where you left off.  Those are the things that matter; the things that count.  I haven't always remembered that but I want to.  I want home, no matter where they go, to be that safe place where they are known and loved.  And I think that's about the best thing you can wish for in this life.