Utah--California

If you've kept up with my blog at all that means more than likely you've read at least one post about going home.  I know what you're thinking, "get some new material", but what you should be thinking is how important my home must be to me.  I'd have to be heartless for a place where my family has such deep roots to mean nothing to me.  My dad once told me early on in my college career that no matter where life took me the ranch would always be my home, it would always mean something and it would always be there waiting.  That's stayed with me and there have been times over the last decade that I've needed to go home to center myself.  To again get a hold on who I am, to just be me.

As per my gypsy lifestyle it's once again time to head home.  My job is done for the season and since everything I own is in a storage unit and I technically no longer have a place of residence, I might as well go to California.  This summer has been challenging, I've had to sit by and listen as my parents place was threatened by not one but two wildfires.  More recently however, a shed burned down at the house and everything was almost lost.  If it hadn't been for a water pumper left over from the wildfire threat and the help of many neighbors we would have lost everything.  There wouldn't have been anything left to go back to. 

If you know me, you know that fire is the #1 thing I'm afraid of.  Growing up in a house made of nothing but wood, fire was always a threat and we were cautioned against that danger.  As a little girl I used to lay awake at night and plan for a fire.  If we got a flu fire, what would I do.  I would plan on grabbing a big garbage sack and filling it with my most prized possessions and then leaping out of my bedroom window.  Totally normal right?  That fear has very much followed me into adult hood.  Thankfully the house was saved but the shed and everything in it are forever lost.  My dad re-injured his shoulders during the fire and if there was ever any doubt I now know home is where I belong.

Since being put on a no work restriction at work for an injury I suffered in August I've had very little human contact.  I don't know many people in this town and without work that left me pretty isolated.  In just 3 short hours my cousin will be flying in.  The excitement is all but tangible at this point.  It's like waiting for Christmas.  I'm absolutely ecstatic!  It's been 11 months since I've been home, 5 months since I've seen my dogs, which has been really hard.  I also had to leave behind a couple horses that I also can't wait to get back and work with.  At this time in three days I will once again be hooked up and on the road home.  Both my cousin and I are now laid off so we're taking our time on this trip.  No harried, all-night driving to make it home on a deadline.  It'll be a blast as always.  Utah is even being so kind as to send me off with some snow.

Xo Loves,

Me