Goodbyes

Well,  even though this blog's audience is my OP family and not my Indiana one - I feel it's a fitting place to write this "see you later" blog.  :)

Doesn't "Goodbye" feel final?  I guess the older I get, the less formal it feels in some cases.  You can kind of tell when you're saying it, if it's the last one you say to someone or not.  Some people can maintain long distance relationships better than others. 

Anyhoo - I'm off track. 

So, Indiana - you've been my home a few different times now and for most of my life I've lived inside your borders.  Inside the walls of Clay County.  I've learned over the past few years that I like small town life, with the minor exception that I'd rather know people, than to be known.  :)  You've been a great place for my daughter to live as a teenager.  Stretching and growing.   Though some times were painful, most were pleasant and she's a fine young lady with confidence and courage that shines far. Would she be who she is today, if she stayed in OP?  Of course not.  Not because OP was bad, but because with different life experiences our lives get molded.  We get cracks and bends and wear and tear based on what we see and hear and live through and being in the city, or the country, or a small town affects all that.  Living near family or far away from loved ones.  Having relationships with adults or having limited connections to them.  Having a job, or not having a job.  Working at home doing chores, or not working.  Everything we do from when we wake up to when we sleep helps define and redefine us each day.  It certainly isn't only our environment and experiences, it's our thoughts and upbringing and genetic code too.  It all gives us the ability to be unique.  Our Nicky - Kaylin Nicole Franklin aka "Nicky Lea" is just that and I feel proud to say that living inside the borders of Indiana has helped her embrace who she is and who she desires to become.

At the same time that Nicky was learning as a teenager here, Chandler had the opportunity to "grow up" from 8 to 14 inside your Clay City walls.  Walls that showed him a different side to life a side of community and belonging beyond his "house" in OP.  A side that gave him courage to start a mowing business.  A side that gave him a desire/courage to play basketball.  He's been more limited in options to a degree, but less limited in the choices he's made.  The desires he has.  He's learned work ethic.  He's had opportunity to work and grow as a young man.  I know that as he has built relationships and learned so much from neighbors, family, and friends that he will always carry that with him to the "city" or where ever God places him.  He's a fine young man and a strong young man and I'm glad that this has been his home for so long. 

As Chad and I learn what we really like/don't like and as we get older we continue to become a blend.  We find what works for us and with each move we fine tune/hone that just a bit.  God blesses us and is with us no matter where we are.  Some people were born to roam, I guess that's true for Chad and I.  Moving doesn't bother me.  I look forward to being in a new place, seeing what things it has in common or things it doesn't have in caparison to where I've been.  OP will forever be "home" for Chad and I.  I'm sure we'll judge all other places by OP.  Even though we've enjoyed Clay City and I can't say that I'd never move back there, because we might.  But the first time we were "home" for both of us was OP. 

Right now, Sterling Heights seems to be a blend of OP and Indiana and for where we are in our lives, that seems to be a good fit.  We seem to be a blend of the two places.  So, I'm looking forward to what lies ahead, while I sadly say goodbye to what has been.