The Bean Blossom Covered Bridge
We have been gone for the past two weeks and have ignored our Blogs and computers pretty much completely.
This is quite a feat, since we each have two Blogs and Facebook pages that seem to occupy way too much of our time lately.
Our trip to the heartland of this country, namely my home town of Indianapolis, was supposed to be for a family reunion, but it turned out to be so much more.
Going home for me has always been a double edged sword, I love my family and my childhood home, but usually, something unexpected happens to make me wish that I had gone somewhere else.
Not this time.
This time, the reunion was basically flawless family good times and absolutely nothing negative happened to cause me to yearn for the Keys or anywhere but home.
It seems that as you get older, everything falls into place, more or less.
The really silly things that you worried about in the past, just don't seem quite as important and the terribly important things, people, are brought sharply into focus.
This trip redefined my relationships with those I grew up with and made me truly appreciate the ones who had never been in the forefront until now.
But, if you asked me for the moment in time on this trip that began this process of change, it would have been when we turned down a wrong road in the country trying so hard to find a covered bridge and found instead two perfectly beautiful deer standing on the dirt road.
They gave us a quick look, then wandered slowly away through a field of golden amber flowers, ears flicking, just nibbling and watching.
After seeing them, finding that bridge, which we did moments later, seemed not quite so important.
Then, the next day, a cousin who has been extremely ill, and had been heavy on my mind since learning of her condition at the reunion, just appeared at an ice cream shop several of us had stopped at after visiting the grave sites of some of our ancestors that day.
Yes, we were in her neighborhood, but we never, ever, expected to have her just show up there.
It was all overwhelming and very emotional.
Seeing her that day, put the whole trip into proper perspective.
No matter where you go, if you open your eyes and your heart and just appreciate life, it all comes into focus.
Life that is.
