Friday, March 7, 2008

How We Change....

So my dad called me out on going on blogcation. It's true I kinda did. I went to Denver for a week to see a friend and kind of forgot about the internet for the most part. But I'm back for my handful of faithful readers. You are gonna get a little look into my past here today....
Growing up in Ohio, I had a pretty great childhood. I loved being part of a big family (by American standards)and enjoyed all the seasons Wooster offered. I imagined one day being just like my mom raising a family of kids in a small town in Ohio and being a stay at home mom. I mean I actually used to say I wanted 32 kids when I was younger and got mad when people laughed at me for saying such a thing. Now, I am not saying these things will not come to pass (except for the 32 kids part), perhaps they will. But something has happened in me since leaving good old Wooster, Ohio...
I LOVE TO TRAVEL. I absolutely love it. Now, you have to realize that although many of you may have known this for years and seen this in me, I don't think I really did until recently. I have had many friends describe me as very adventerous as of late, and my thought has always been "really?" I think I think that way because in many ways I am still that plain simple girl who wants to be a stay at home mom with her kids in rural America. But I've changed too. When I lived in Wooster last year I thought, I HAVE to get out of here AT LEAST once a month because it felt like there was no one (or very few) people like me there. So I went to San Diego,California, Raleigh, North Carolina multiple times, Dallas, Texas, The Central African Republic, Washington D.C., Cleveland and Columbus multiple times, and Chicago all in a span of less than 12 months!!! And you wonder how I didn't see myself as adventerous, well probably because most of the time I was just going to visit friends, and that to me showed me the importance I place on relationships more than my love of travel.
And then I moved to NC, back to the city with world minded people and people with similiar educational backgrounds. And I didn't feel the same need to get out. But you know what? I have gone just about as much! I've gone back to Ohio twice to see family,I have flown to Denver, Colorado for a week. I've visited the beaches of NC and the mountains, I'm taking a trip to Charlotte, NC next weekend, I'm going to Nashville, TN in April to run a race, and anytime anyone mentions a cheap road trip, I am so excited!!
So I guess I am adventerous and I have changed since those days as a small child in Ohio. I still hope God allows me to be a stay-at-home mom one day, that's my heart's desire and it always has been. But I think it's safe to say that "staying at home" will look way different to me and my kids than to most of those who grew up in Wayne county. I hope my kids are partly raised on a different continent and in different urban and rural settings in the U.S. This isn't a put down on the way I was raised, I LOVED my childhood. But I also love this amazing world that God has created and as much as He allows me, I intend to see and be a part of as many different cultures as is possible.
Watch my kids will probably move back to some place like Red Haw, Ohio, buy a plot of land, and never leave their "town" after the childhood I give them. But that would be ok too. It would actually give me a new place to visit. I've only ever driven through that wonderful place.

1 comment:

SPIES said...

You will be a stay at home mom, and an on-the-go woman, and a lovely wife and doting mother. You have the right stuff to be all of that and more. And God says that He will honor those who serve His Son. It's in John 12 somewhere. I put a picture from the morning at Starbucks on the blog entry. Take a look. Snow has blankted the whole State. We had to postpone "Feed the Need" until next weekend. Life is never boring in Ohio...