Who Says You Can't Go Home?

On Memorial Day, I left Wickenburg, the town which became my home, to return to my childhood home in Albany, OR. The trip took three days, countless hours, and sent my kids, my Dad, and I through four states. The trip itself? Long. Very long. I do NOT recommend traveling 1300 miles with two small children under any circumstance. That said, my kiddos are troopers and did far better than I thought they would (and far better than I did, for that matter).

Since I've been back, I've been thinking...I love coming home to Oregon because no matter how much the town changes, no matter how much I change, no matter how much my family changes, home is still home. Since I left Albany after high school, the town really, truly has changed. It's grown. It's flourished. It's struggled. Sometimes as I drive around, things seem so unfamiliar. And then I step into my parent's house, and that's all forgotten. I feel safe. I feel protected. I feel loved. It's such a relief to know that I will always have this place to come to. Unconditionally.

Wickenburg, and our home there, started to become this same safe haven for me. I had a community of people there who I really could count on. My husband has a group of guys he enjoys. My daughter had some great friends, one in particular, who she really knows and loves. I found some great friends, one in particular, who I really know and love. And then we had to pick up and leave. Now that I'm a mother, I desperately want to provide my children and family with a home like I've been so blessed to have. I want roots. I want a place where we stay for our whole lives, where my family always feels safe, comfortable, protected...where they feel home.

As I look toward our new life in Texas, my heart hopes that this is it. That maybe, just maybe, we'll have found our home. Our permanent home. One that we'll be able to love and grow into.

For me, home has always been Oregon. Now? Now I hope that the Brown family plants firm roots so our kids can alway, always come home.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our very, very long trip.