Longing for Home

I finally made it home about 1:30 Saturday night. Saturday morning when I arrived at the airport for my 7:30 a.m. flight I found that all of the morning flights had been canceled. So, after a long wait to see a ticketing agent, I learned that there were only possibilities of getting home. But at 4:30 I learned that this was a 6:30 flight that I was booked for. It was delayed, of course, but I finally made it home.

Saturday made for a long and depressing day. Yet when I sleepily strolled into the Breakfast Club my friends cheered that I had made it back to this clump of sand that is Tybee.

Knowing that I didn't have one, Ryan Sadowski told me that he would be my Valentine. I suspect that Ryan is going to have a long life as a single man because he really sucked at being my Valentine. I told him as much this morning.

Goddess got a lot of attention from me with extra walks and a great deal of wrestling in the floor.

At the Bored meeting at Fannies, Trolley Joe welcomed me back and Johnny O held court until Roma arrived and took over. The skies were bright blue and the sun danced on the ocean. It bordered on being balmy.

Jim Withers called me from Pittsburgh to make certain that I was doing alright. And as I told him that I was, I looked at lovers strolling down the beach, hand in hand.

I also slept a lot yesterday so today I feel fresh and ready to begin. There is nothing profound about today. Other than I have a great deal of love in my heart and a longing for home. Everyday I work with people who have lost their homes. They are fragile and frightened and timid about how to make a new one. And it is hard, hard work to do so.

Frederick Buechner, my favorite author, wrote a book titled "The Longing for Home" in which he describes preparing to die and the desire to be with God, however we chose to define that. I understand that longing part today. Even though I am here, I find myself longing for home.