Home

We leave for Chicago on Sunday. Thirteen or so hours in a car. Luckily, we are flying so it will only take us a couple hours. If the weather cooperates. Otherwise, it might still take us thirteen hours. I did all of my shopping ahead of time, just like the Wise Men. I got all my Christmas cards done early, just like every year, because being a control freak is my vice and I want everything checked off my list before I go home.
Home. Everything there is bigger and time is measured differently. People smile at me and laugh with me and understand me. My Mom will look into my eyes and tell me that she loves me so much as she holds my face in her soft, worn hands. She has been looking forward to this visit for over a year now. Finally home for Christmas.

"You are brilliant and subtle if you come from Illinois and really strange and you live as you live and you are always very well taken care of if you come from Illinois."- Gertrude Stein