I've been back in Ohio just over a month and it still feels unreal. Maybe it will take being here longer than a summer vacation timeline, but my mind hasn't quite grasped the fact that this is home.
I'm home.
Sure, there is more settling in to do. M and I are working on various projects in his (soon to be our) house whenever we have free time. I'm enjoying living with my college roommate once again and all of the joy being near old friends has brought.
My new job is exciting and filled with so much potential. Some days seem slower than others, but there's been tangible growth even in this short amount of time and I can't wait to see how the Spirit moves.
In the same breath of feeling at home and reconnecting with this community, I miss Connecticut. I miss my friends there. I miss working in a space with more than one other person and clearly knowing the steps I needed to take to be successful in that role. I miss my little apartment and my cat, who is keeping M company until I move in this summer.
It's this weird tension that I constantly find myself in - enjoying what I have, longing for what was, and excitedly anticipating what is yet to come. All the feelings. All the emotions. And all the gratitude for the grace of abundance I can't help but see in it all.
I took some photos of my apartment before I moved out. I have learned that I am not the person who can turn a space into a home instantly, but rather I add to it slowly and steadily until it feels right. I'd finally made it to that point in CT and now I get to begin again in OH. In some ways it's frustrating to have to start over, but in another sense it's exciting.
There's newness and possibility and I am resting in that space, in my new life here, dreaming with God about all the blessings to come.
Peace,
Sarah