There is a whirlwind of things going through all of our minds, and that doesn’t even include all of the thoughts about out schedules and expectations at home. We have seen a lot, and learned a lot, hurt a lot, and healed a lot this year but it is still a bunch of fragments waiting to be pieced together.
The coming weeks may be some of the hardest we will face all year. How do you fit all of these experiences into the context of life back in the States? So much has happened, and so much has changed, yet where we are going probably isn’t too much different than when we left. On the other hand, it is completely different. You all are completely different. Things have happened that we were not there for.
Somebody shared and analogy last night about this situation. It is like being amputated. Suddenly, your legs are chopped off and your feet are attached to your hips. Or that is how other people may see you. There is a hugely significant part of our lives, a part that has shaped us and changed us into new people, but to the people at home that part does not exist. It is missing from their experience with us, so they see us minus those parts. It is the same for us when we look at you.
In our minds, time has stood still in at home. You are exactly who you were when we left, and nothing significant has happened to change anything. We will instinctively pick up were we left off with you as you will with us. But neither of us is really the same. Things have happened on both ends, so what do we do about that?
The best thing either of us can do is to take the time to listen to each others stories. Take the time to share those missing pieces and paint the pictures for each other. It will take a lot of time, but we have lost a lot of time. It is time to be genuine and shoe some real interest and concern for each others lives, and respect the journeys we have all been on. The best investment we can make right now is time.
I love you guys and can’t wait to hear all of your stories and share all of mine.
