Home Alone

I’m home. Alone. For the first time in I-don’t-know-when.

I’ve slept in. Read a book. Read the newspaper - and it was actually in order. (Around our house, the sports section is usually on top, courtesy of Brayden.) I can really enjoy a certain amount of solitude.

The phone has rung once. Otherwise it’s been quiet. I can hear the birds outside the window and the hum of the washing machine. That’s about it. No cabinet doors banging. Nobody coming in or going out. No TV. No kids’ music. Nobody needing anything from mom. No arguing….No laughing.

I’m already lonesome.

Just last Saturday there were eight of us here. In addition to our usual four were Blake, Brad, Michelle, and little Tyler, here for a short while before saying another long goodbye.

A few years ago when all the kids were home, I stood at the kitchen sink watching them walk down the road, then walking back again. I wanted a picture of the memory to hang on that wall, another “window” to look through as I wished all the family back together. Little Austin was with Grandpa and Grandma when the shot was taken, and Michelle and Tyler were not yet part of the family. Otherwise everyone is there, all looking about the same except for Brayden who has almost caught up to his older brothers in height.

There are miles to go and missions to fulfill before they’ll be home again. Last week, Brad, Michelle, and Tyler began to get settled in Peru. Thank God for the internet which makes it possible to get frequent updates on their lives.

Brent has already been serving off the coast of Africa for a couple of months. Back in Virginia, Christina and Austin mark the days with emails, rare phone calls, and a jar of chocolate kisses. One kiss each night from Daddy. When the jar is empty, Daddy comes home.

Blake is preparing for deployment to the Middle East. His service to his country has involved an additional sacrifice during the past six weeks as his best friend and lovely wife, Sam, has embarked on a military career of her own as a nurse with the Air National Guard. Going through something as hard as basic training is, well, hard. But when someone you love more than your own life is going through it, the toll is doubly painful, especially since communications have been, and will continue to be, so limited.

I miss them all. I even miss Brooke and Brayden who are just a hundred miles away and due back tomorrow. I can’t wait for all of us to be together once again.

As I sit in quiet reflection, my heavenly Father has been speaking to me in His still, small voice. “Child, aren’t you a little far from home yourself?’

It’s true. I’ve traveled a path of busyness, carrying suitcases of earthly cares and never-ending tasks that have seemed so important. I think I’ll put them down and spend a little time in my Father’s house. Rest a while, and get refreshed for whatever lies around the next bend in the road.