In a heartbeat she was returned to her family's farmhouse in Kansas where it appeared that all she had experienced was just a dream. "You were there, and you and you!" Each would laugh and stroke her head or shoulder, she'd been through a whirlwind and returned to her life forever changed.
No place like home.
I grew up in a small town the the middle of Kansas. I believed if I wished hard enough I would be picked up and taken to the magical world I must really be from. Kansas could not possibly be my home. Yes, I lived there with my parents and my sister and my dog Prissy. Yes, I had grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends, but where was my destiny? I could sing like Dorothy and knew every song by heart. I could walk a block to the cornfields that surrounded our little town and when the tornados threatened, I dreamed of running out to be lifted up into the world of my dreams. Somewhere over the rainbow - where dreams come true.
I would climb trees and play structures and roofs to be as close as I could to the blue Kansas sky. I would lay in the cool grass and read the signs in the ever changing clouds. And I grew up.
We moved to Colorado where in some places the mountain tops seemed like stairs to Oz. I imagined if I just climbed high enough - through the clouds - the magic would explode around me. But we lived where it was flat. And when I finally got a trip in a friend's father's plane - I saw that the clouds above are only air.
I left home at 18 to go to college, came back briefly to get married, then off again and into my own life. It seemed to me that maybe it was the leaving home that would bring my Oz to me. But no. My life just changed and grew to fit me like a glove. And when I finally arrived in California, if felt a bit like Oz. San Francisco glittered like the Emerald City and there were wizards behind every innovation. It was so easy to believe I had found my place.
I built my business and my life there - I married, divorced - married again, divorced again and finally settled in with an unlikely partner. A boy - just 19 to my 41 living his life in his mother's basement in Ohio. Like the scarecrow, he danced into my life to point the way to happiness. Like the Lion, he helped me find the courage to walk a different path. Like the tin man, I was the oil can that freed him to walk the path with me. Together we found we shared a heart and a dream - to make our home together.
We've lived in our Oz for 14 years. It's been a rocky road because a dream is not enougth. As one child flew on, and then the other - homesickness slipped over us like sleeping poppies. The dream of snow falling outside out bedroom window made us to realize there is nothing behind the curtain.
Hand and hand we are clicking our heals now.
And you'll be there. And you. And you. And all of you.
3 comments:
Soooo... Does this mean that you are looking to sell the place and make your way out East again? Things are a little slower, a little more cozy and the snow does fly in the winters. But what of the beach? What of the sights?
We've got sights of our own here. Nothing beats the colors of the leaves in the fall... the beach? Over rated in my book.
Come on back to the land of four seasons. Things are only a little slower if you want them to be. You make it what you want, instead of the other way around.
I found a home here I love. I've made up my mind to travel back to the land of seasons, and family and opportunity.
I can't just buy this dream home - I have to sell first or manage a temporary loan for $250K to make this dream come true.
Any philanthropists out there who would love to help me now for interest paid later?
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