Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Welcome Home

Richard and I left Northeast Missouri 38 years before we returned in May 2007. We did those things young people of our generation and interests did. We got educations. We got drafted. We got jobs. We got more education. We settled down, raised a daughter, bought a house, acquired stuff, got credit, paid off debt, got responsible in the Human World. Now we have retired from wonderful careers to follow yet another dream.

Through it all, I had not known this land had left an indelible mark on me. But it had. And the very things I was moved by over the years have been the things that have welcomed me home to this little Farm. I found them here as a child and as a young adult. And they magically appeared at special, unexpected moments along my path of life as I left this place.

They are: Spider Wort (photo 1), Compass Plant (photo 2), Butterfly Weed (photo 3), Little Cat Foot (or Pussy Toes), Echinacea (photo 4), Bob White Quail, Whip Poor Wills, Big Bluestem, Indian Grass, Cardinals, Meadow Larks, Wild Strawberries, Bittersweet, Lightning Bugs. These humble little companions touched a nerve so deep inside me it really defies words. The presence and the welcome of these humble things on this little Farm perhaps more than any other tells me that at long last I am home.

1 comment:

papaw said...

Wow! I just finished reading everything posted. I am humbled with your ability to articulate your thoughts! I look forward to reading more of your writing and viewing more the beautiful pictures! I wonder why you don't have a copy of the lovely painting that you gave Martha and me. I would like to have you write down the information you you told us about it's meaning.