All Roads Lead to Home

Moving Day-Arizona There’s nothing like catching the first glimpse of your home town city lights when you have been gone for awhile. When I was a college student at BYU I was about 600 miles from home. When, for a holiday or summer break, I got the chance to go home, I looked forward to the first sighting of the Albuquerque lights. It’s a beautiful sight, especially from 9 mile hill, a sprawling city at the foot of a beautiful mountain. Those lights would always twinge at my heart and bring a moment of peace, a moment of belonging, a moment of love. I was almost HOME.

Six years ago today we moved into our house. That makes this the house/city the place where we have lived for the longest time, beating our record of 5 1/2 years living I Mesa, AZ. Those six years, of course, have gone by very quickly. When we left Arizona we were at the top of our game. We loved living there and were sad to leave, even when we knew it was the right thing to do. Although we didn’t have a lot of family in Arizona we had some great friends. Friends that we traveled with, spent holidays with, friends that were, in essence, our family. It was hard to say goodbye, even when we knew our family (by blood) were all waiting to hail us back to Utah. Needless to say, moving to Utah was not the easiest transition. It helped that we knew this is where Heavenly Father wanted us. It helped having great family close by. It helped that we found this great house. I remember the first time I walked through this house, I could picture our kids running through it. I knew it was the right house for us. But, it has not always been easy. We have had many ups and downs here. It’s taken us quite awhile to feel like we fit in. As those of you that are Mormon know, the church is quite a different entity in Utah. After living in “the mission field” (outside of Utah) for about 10 years, it was hard to transition back into it. It’s always a bit hard to describe how or why it’s different here in Utah, never the less, it is.

The good news is, after six years, it finally feels like home. Our kids have made some amazing friends, and we have too. We have had great opportunity to get close to family. My kids know the bulk of their aunts, uncles, and cousins. And, better yet, those aunts, uncles, and cousins know them. We have served, loved, lost, and have made a lot of great memories here. It’s weird to think that Nathan will not remember living anywhere else. This is the place that my kids will all go on their first dates from, they will graduate from high school, leave to go on missions and to get married. All that craziness. I’ve come to realize it will all happen in the blink of an eye too.

So now, as I wind my way up Sego Lily, pass under the tree covered street as 9400 S gets closer to the canyon, or look at the temple lights as I head to the store with the rest of the Salt Lake Valley sparkling around it, I can know, I’m HOME.