Home Again, Home Again

Home Again, Home Again

Remember the children's rhyme that uses those words? That's about how I every March when we finally reach the last stretch of winding road that leads us home from our winter in South Carolina. Sometimes we've come back to a snowstorm--this year we returned to see the daffodils blooming! Obviously it was a mild winter in Pennsylvania. Was Punxsutawney Phil wrong in his annual prediction?

Coming home after an absence of three months is such a reminder of why we love our place, even though we discovered a leaking pipe in the basement and a ton of small branches that had come down in the yard. I love walking around the house and seeing what has survived the winter (almost everything, it seems) and what needs work (how did that azalea bush get planted so close to the ever-blooming lilac, I wonder.)

And then there's the business of picking up the threads of our lives here: old friends to visit with, volunteer schedules to catch up on, appointments to set up now that we're home.

For me, most important and most satisfying is settling back into my office again. It took me three days to unpack, sort, and put everything away to my satisfaction, but now I feel as if I'd never left. Although I can and do write anywhere--in a moving car, sitting in a waiting room, while watching grandkids play--I feel most productive when I'm settled into my little nest.

So on with the next book!