75 years

This year is the 75th anniversary of our local Quaker meeting. Tonight there was a sort of kick off celebration. I was, of course, late (with very good reason and totally worth it!) but I arrived in time to hear a song written about our meeting.

Now some background. For those of y'all that haven't moved around a lot, let me just explain things to you. In my experience at about the six month mark of being in a new place you begin to miss the old place very very much. It sort of, well, eats your soul this deep longing for the old place. Now add, I don't know 3 or 4 old places and one begins to feel a bit chewed up inside. To say the least it is unsettling. I miss Wales like you wouldn't believe. Seriously. After the Arizona shootings I spent the day crying in the bathroom wondering what kind of messed up country I had moved my family back to. (Ok, now hormones did play a small part in this day of bathroom weepiness. Not to mention the 2 hour podcast on the subject I kept listening to.) Before that we had traveled down south to see family and to Indiana to see chosen family. So I was in a bit of a post holiday meltdown of missing people and places. (I'm also, strangely enough, homesick for Ireland a place where I spent just a week. And that week we were mildly ill with mono!)

But I digress, tonight at the 75th Anniversary kickoff, this wonderful singer songwriter sang a song about our local meeting. When in the first verse he mentioned the name of our town a bit of warm hometown pride started spreading in my heart and by the last verse I was weeping happy tears. You see, now I do feel like I've found a new home. Does this make Memphis, California, Wales, or Indiana any less home? Nope. But it does add a new home to the list.

Soon as I got home, I did what I tend to do when a musician inspires me, I pulled out my guitar and sang. I sang and sang. I sang the songs that made my mind visit the lands I longed for, songs I had kind of shelved for a while. Below you'll find one of those songs. I am forever grateful to the members of my community for bearing with my homesick longing for Anywhere but Here. And with love I offer this song, from a land I've yet to visit (but is at the top of my list), to all of you.

Diolch yn fawr i bawb