Saturday, November 14, 2009

It's Good To Be Home...

Tonight I went to Gunter to see my parent's, sister, nieces and both of my grandmothers. It was nice. I'm much more appreciative of living here in Texas, near my family, after being in Kansas. Granted I was only there for two months, but it's more than I can describe being back.

Today, while at my parent's, my niece Emma had me "chase" her while she was riding a tricycle (it's WAY too small for her by the way, so not much "chasing" going on). Nevertheless, I obliged and followed her to the front of the house, along the sidewalk. She noticed some, I guess, etching(?) in the sidewalk and proceeded to point it out while reciting her ABC's. After she finished, I told her that what she was pointing at was something her mommy and I did when our parent's built that house when the cement was still "wet". I guess that was something I forgot about until Emma pointed it out. You can clearly see..."Kevin '90" in the sidewalk. Emma wondered why her name wasn't there, which is when I came to the realization that that house was built almost 20 years ago, before she ever became the light in her mother's eye...and my family's for that matter. I'm not sure she understood what I was saying, but seeing that part of the sidewalk kinda made me emotional. Suddenly I noticed the age of the place, the bricks don't look the same, the yard doesn't look the same...it looked older. I remember when that house, my "always" home, was built. I remember coming back from vacation that year to see it had been framed, playing hide n seek in it before it was finished out, being outside the garage when I heard Garth Brooks "Friends in Low Places" for the first time (it had just been released shortly before construction...yeah I know). However, I never saw this house as old, until today. I'm just grateful that another generation has the opportunity to see it as...home. I miss Gunter...yeah, I said it.

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