I have been home for only a little over a week and I am joyfully returning to small down life. In the first week I helped work cattle, got my house ready for another graduation, remembered what I love about Ashland, and slept.
First when I got home Dad needed me to help my brother freeze brand several head of young bulls and heifers. So I joined my younger (bigger) brother and we tagged and branded and enjoyed talking together. One of the things I love the very most about being home is the horizon. In Manhattan there are hills and trees and I cannot see. Its beautiful and I love the trees and the water there but there is something about the horizon six to ten miles away and the red dirt staining the far hills orange. I cannot even describe the beauty and glory of the night sky. At school the lights of town keep the stars from really being seen but at home I live two miles from town and at night I look up and the stars go on forever.
My little sister, Abigail, graduated from Ashland High School and I got to help get the house ready for lots of company. We have a very large family and they all like to show up for graduations to say hi and give hugs and talk a lot. Abigail was valedictorian and won the Citizenship Award along with another classmate. I really love my family and it was so great to get to be there with my sister on her special day.
I went to get the mail today and I walked across Main Street. There was one vehicle that stopped to let me by, I waved, it was a lady that had known our family for years. Down the street one block was the grocery store, up the street one block was the bank and the library. I stood there for a few moments, the heat of a Kansas summer day baking my skin and smiled. It is so wonderful to be home in the midst of familiar things.
