There's no place like home....

I recently started re-reading The Wizard of Oz again. I read it when I was younger, but had forgotten completely how much I loved it. The movie version is good, but the book (as usuaul) is ten times better! Dorothy has more adventures in the book and the characters are much more complex than the movie lets on. For example, Glinda (the good witch of the North) is not this normal, beautiful woman like she is portrayed in the movie. She's also a Munchkin and a rather elderly one at that. The book WICKED follows the original story better than the movie does and as a result, the musical is AMAZING! Now, what does this topic have to do with anything? It's how I've been feeling lately. To get home Dorothy clicks her heels three times and says, "There's no place like home." There really isn't.
Home for me is three hours southwest of Fulton. Down in the Ozark Mountains. Out in the country. It's amazing.
I wasn't too thrilled about it when we moved there about 8 years ago from Memphis, TN. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Memphis....and the South in general. The thing is Ozark is just so peaceful and wonderful. I hated it for the longest time. I grew up in Memphis, all of my friends were there...but moving allowed me to broaden my view and experience more things. If we had never moved to Missouri I probably wouldn't have started playing volleyball. I wouldn't have come to William Woods and I wouldn't have met the amazing people that are in my life today.
Home is also where my heart lies. I love the way it feels in Autumn and in winter and the traditions and festivals down there are unbelievable. It's just gorgeous and picturesque. This is my last semester of undergrad and I've found myself wanting to go home more and more. I'm a big city girl that loves the country. You can see my dilemma. As mentioned in previous posts, I'm absolutely in love with Paris, Prague, and New York. I know that I could be perfectly happy living there, but I also love the down-home feeling of small towns. I'm a citizen of the world, not just one country. I have dreams that involve me moving somewhere across the world (or even across the country) but I don't want to leave my friends and family.
Ask anyone, I'm a total momma and daddy's girl. I'm independent but my parents are my world. I don't know what I would do without them. They raised me to stand up for my beliefs, what I think is right, for other people (as well as myself) and how to act in any situation. I know this is a rather sentimental post, but I'm going home in a few weeks and am SO completely excited I can't even stand it. Then the next weekend one of my closest friends from high school is getting married. I can't believe it. First it's Jana and then Stephanie and then somewhere down the line...me. We were all the last ones that I ever expected to get married before some of the others. What can I say?? There really is no place like home.

You live, you learn...

I know it's been a while since I've written, but once the first of August rolled around my life became insanely busy. The second week in August brought the onslaught of fall athletes on campus and so began my first season of NOT playing a sport in over 18 years. It's a feeling that is so completely new to me that I still don't understand how to handle it. I'm still helping out with the volleyball team, but it's still odd not being the one doing the drills, playing and doing something that I was so passionate about for the longest time. For the past four years, my life has completely revolved around volleyball (and occasionally track). I was either playing volleyball all the time in late summer and fall, doing post-season workouts with Bobby J in the spring while also doing a few practices or killing myself to make my goals in the summertime. My body hasn't quite realized that my days of collegiate sports are over. I don't think my heart has either.
August was a rough month. Besides three-a-days, school was just around the corner and Greek recruitment was in full-swing. Another first? This was my first time in four years not being recruited or doing the recruiting. I had every intention of being there and helping out with recruitment this fall, but alas, God had another plan. I had to go home because my grandmother, my dad's mom, passed away. We went down to Little Rock, Arkansas and did the whole shabang. My grandmother was a remarkable woman and I miss her dearly, but there is no sense dwelling on the past.
School this semester is going to be rather interesting. I honestly don't have a single class that hasn't been fun thus far. I know, I know. And yes, even Biology has been entertaining. The only thing that I haven't been fond of is the fact that I feel like I didn't get a summer.
Well, this afternoon I'm heading home to the Ozarks! I saw my first "Branson in Autumn" commercial the other day and it made me incredibly homesick. I love it there in the fall. The leaves are changing colors, the weather gets cool and it just feels like home. The varsity volleyball team is playing in the College of the Ozarks tournament this weekend and after I get out of classes I'm heading down to help coach. I also get to see some of my friends that I haven't seen in a very long time! It's going to be a fabulous weekend.