Where the heart is

I called my mom at the Portland airport, after check in and before security, to say farewell and thank you. In true mom fashion, she made me cry by asking just the right question, "What was this trip for you? Was it better than you thought, worse than you thought, more difficult, more fun....?" [shout out to the Meemz!]

I cried because my answer is this: My trip home was perfect. Perhaps it was because I was just happy to be in the room and didn't arrive with any expectations to speak of. Perhaps it was because I appreciate my friends and family and the idea of home more than I have in the past. Perhaps it was because Christmas is better when you get to be with the people you love. But no matter what the extenuating circumstances might have been, I am so, so, SO filled with happiness and gratitude right now.

The support that I have in Portland sustained me through some rough patches in my first six months, and I am certain that I will return to that well again at points in the next six, and the next and the next. I am so blessed with smart, funny, caring and compassionate friends who make me laugh and encourage me to buy shoes one minute and honor me by sharing the details of their lives the next. Though my experiences in Europe may have a luckiest girl quality about them, my real luck is having such amazing people in my life.