I am from

I couldn't resist the opportunity to write one of these myself. It's kind of lengthy (as is most everything else I write), but I enjoyed taking the time to look back and write some things down on "paper." For those of you who haven't done so already, just do it! :-) You'll be glad you did. Mine's probably not the best example of length, so forgive me. You can find some simple ideas on getting started here .

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I am from evergreen trees and the smell and sound of the ocean. I am from the warm, salty, night breeze blowing in from the bay through the windows of the small second- floor room of my great-Grammy’s house where my brother and I slept during summer vacations. I am from walking the length of the small city where my brother and I were both born, from the McDonald’s at the highway junction to the park at the other end of town. I am from hanging clothes out to dry on my great-Grammy’s laundry line to be dried in the warm, summer, ocean air. I am from trips to the candy store with my brother where we would buy cowtails, gum, and soda pop nearly everyday of summer vacation. I am from lighthouses, Acadia National Park, Mt. Katahdin, and fresh seafood. I am from finding out the news that the very house my great-Grammy had lived in all my life and the place where I’d made so many precious summer memories with my family was being sold and my great-Grammy moved to a Florida retirement home.

I am from vacations on the road. I am from Niagara Falls and Mount Rushmore and Devil’s Tower and the Redwood Forest and Ruidoso and Pike Place Market. I am from fighting over room and space with my brother in the backseat of our car, from singing out of tune with my headphones on and driving my family crazy. I am from dinners on the road at McDonald’s and Mom stealing licks from everyone else’s ice cream cones because she refused to get her own. I am from a brother who played with his food, made us laugh till our sides hurt, and then grew up to become an incredible pastry chef. I am from a family that resembles The Griswolds when it comes to vacations on the road.

I am from the Army life and never staying in the same place more than four years at a time. I am from a home that, on the outside, looked just like everyone else’s around me. I am from making friends, moving, and making new friends. I am from learning to adjust.

I am from long walks with my mom in our Washington neighborhood. I am from the Maranatha Praise albums and listening to my dad singing, Come, Let us Worship and Bow Down. I am from pandas and coin collections. I am from “forest hotels” and singing along with Psalty the Singing Songbook. I am from Dad’s homemade lasagna and snickerdoodles. I am from homemade pizza and movie nights on Fridays. I am from Easter dresses sewn with love by my momma every year of my childhood. I am from a picture of a little girl hanging in only her underwear on a hook on the back of a door in her grandmother Josephine’s home.

I am from the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am from watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, from Mom’s homemade, warm yeast rolls, from trimming the tree with the same ornaments year after year that we had brought back from Germany when I was really young, from reading The Story every Christmas Eve and Christmas morning before doing anything else. I am from countless Christmas movies and songs.

I am from playing in the band at football games, from the music of Beauty and the Beast and West Side Story, from panthers to lancers, and from friends who I’ve lost touch with.

I am from failure, rebellion, heartache, moving away, and being on my own. I am from Wide Open Spaces. I am from a small, one-bedroom apartment with an empty living room and a borrowed bed to sleep in. I am from a 1 and a half hour bus ride each way to work and a three-mile walk home for over a year just to pay the bills. I am from coming to know the faithfulness of God in the sunrise that would greet me each morning walking across the Mingo Creek bridge on my way to catch the bus. I am from Testify to Love. I am from all the precious times I shared with the Lord riding the bus to work.

I am from brokenness and a trip home after nearly three years without seeing my mom and a reconciliation that can be likened to that of Jacob and Esau or the prodigal and the Father. I am from All Things New.

I am from late-night coffee house talks with good girlfriends, girls’ nights out, book discussions, prayers, and friendship. I am from friends I thought I would never have and from telling them (over and over) how very much they mean every time I get to spend any length of time with them.

I am from love I thought I would never find. I am from shoeboxes that hold cards, movie stubs, dried flowers, letters, pictures, and other sentimental memorabilia of my life since my husband’s love swept into my life. I am from two Journey concerts, more than a handful of trips to El Paso over the holidays, one trip to California, from Eureka Springs, and building an everyday-kind-of life and love together.

I am from a beautiful girl and her son that have seemingly captured what ever of my heart is left to give and a beautiful child who is yet to come.

I am from a life that is more than I could have ever dreamed yet still my heart is longing for a place I have never seen. I am from a Father who is so good to me I can’t begin to contain it! I am from a mercy that is renewed every morning and from new opportunities to make more memories.