Day 71 - Tonight We Dine!!!

I don't remember the last time I had a steak dinner...

I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard...

I don't remember the last time I held my head up this high and walked with confidence!

And I don't remember the last time I was truly home! Back to where this life adventure started...

Texas! 

Or rather, TEXAS!!!! (Because everything IS bigger here!)

It's been almost 25 years since I left. I've spent over half my life away from home. I've chased dreams. I've chased love. I've chased making my way in life - the way I saw how it should be according to my mind. 

I've chased my tail...

And I've returned home with less than I left with...

But there has always been something here that never left - the love of friends!

And that is what called me home - my friends, and their love!

I arrived on the doorstep of a dear old friend yesterday morning. What you see is the only material evidence left of my 25 year journey... Other than what I carry inside... 

And I laughed longer and harder than I have in months as stories of youth were revisited between two old friends last night. My tears, pain, and anger were relinquished by love, joy, and laughter. And the loving embraces given to me and holding me tight let fly from me all of the pain and anguish from that journey taking harbor inside me. There was, at last, a calm after a 30 year storm tearing apart my soul...

Today I cried the last of the tears remaining that I have buried deep within. Today a new chapter of life begins on a blank page. At home. At last... In Texas... 

And tonight WE DINE!!!