Homeward-ish Bound

Five months ago today, we loaded up the car and headed north. Strange to do it again this morning - seeing our favorite skyline fade away in the rearview mirror. Stranger yet to feel the swirl of familiar and unfamiliar feelings that it brought.

I love Nashville. She's a part of me. She's been a dear friend. She's hosted some of my greatest life events - marriage, the birth of two of my children, the soil in which my closest friends have sprouted from. I grew up in Texas - but - I'm from Nashville.

5 months isn't a long time - a few buildings got taller, a few kids (my own included) did too. But for the most part, Nashville was the same. The trouble is - we aren't.

In 5 months, we grew by a baby. We planted new roots. We learned to lean in on one another ... which has been both beautiful and - brutal ... brutiful? We've explored and adventured and discovered new things. We've built a new nest, planted a few friendship seeds, and can see our family's future ... and none of this is happening in Nashville.

I realized that each day that becomes more familiar in my new home, becomes less familiar in my old one. As we tie a knot up in the north, we see one unravel down in the south. 

And so here we are - on the road again - headed north. My internal compass feels a pull in the opposite direction. It makes me wonder ... If home is where the heart is - what do you do when it's splitting in two?