Homecoming

Sometimes you know when the decision you’ve made was the right one, immediately. Sometimes you have to wait for the answer to come into clear view.

I was northbound on the 405 on Monday night and seemed to get lost in the vastness of the mega-freeway. I’d driven this stretch of road countless times over the course of the eight and half years I called Southern California home but this night it seemed way huger than any other time I drove it. Even more huge the when I first arrived in Santa Monica on a February afternoon back in 2002. What had changed? My perspective I guess. I shook off the thoughts, and continued on.

A couple of days later, I was roughly on the same stretch of freeway and found myself in this weird place of grinning ear-to-ear and simultaneously feeling like I was about to break down into tears. But I was happy. So incredibly full of happiness. I sat in that awkward state for the rest of the journey I was on -wondering what spurred this confusion of emotional expression – I mean, at the root of it, I was happy.

In the end, I decided that that too was just a case of a shifting perspective. In what I’ll consider my first time back to Southern California since I moved to Austin – I got a chance to experience the life that I walked away from – the life I spent building for the eight and half years I called Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach, Alison Viejo and Irvine home. In that time of reflection, when I was filled with happiness – I recognized now that the life I had there matters. I grew into the woman I am now – my thoughts, my opinions, my goals and dreams. Southern California molded me into the person that would eventually call Austin, Texas home.

And most importantly, it was there that I met the most amazing people, and nurtured friendships that I have no doubt will last a lifetime. I’ve said before that my “love language” is quality time – and in my visit to the Orange County and the beaches that line it – I was fortunate enough to spend real quality time with so many of the people who were there though the journey – my love cup runneth over! I am forever grateful for those friendships – it was because of these people and their support that I have so easily began building my new life in Austin. Jen asked me if I missed it there. My response was that I didn’t “miss the place…I miss the people.” But I know in my heart that no matter where I’m at, they’re all still there. And for that, I am grateful.

So thank you to the twenty people, whom I hugged, caught up with and laughed with over the course of the last five days, thank you! You’ve reminded me that my time there mattered and it mattered most because of the people whom I chose to surround myself with. And I was reminded of how much I’m loved…even when I’m 1000s of miles away.

Take note of the people who matter to you, tell them they matter because chances are, you really matter to them too.