Set my heart at ease...

Remember that last long post? The one about nostalgia? Well, put on your rose-colored glasses cause this post is full of it. (nostalgia. not full of it... oh never mind.)

We were in Birmingham this weekend. The husband came for Upward training, and I just came to tag along. To keep him company. To have a much needed escape. To "renew fond memories." This was most definitely a Sentimental Journey. We met the summer before he moved to Birmingham to begin seminary. Then I moved down to attend school.

We lived there while we were engaged and scrambling to simultaneously plan a wedding and write long, boring papers (or in my case, long boring units about addition or Eric Carle).

We lived there for the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage.

We were a part of some of our favorite (and least favorite) church families there.

I endured those torturous first years of teaching there (my school was wonderful- I was just, you know, green. And not in a compost & bamboo flip flops good kind of way...) and he got his feet wet in real ministry.

We adopted Al Dog there- when we just went in the pet store to get fish food. (We're not at all the impulse buy types... ha!) A little less than a year later, someone brought a litter of Siamese kittens to school, and we added Keaton to our family too.

The first seven months of my pregnancy with Big Sister were there- those precious, wonder-filled experiences of meeting our first child.

We spent a little time, when he was not in session, catching up with this town we once called home. A lot has changed. And not just the restaurants that have closed or the new Whole Foods or the completely rerouted interchange where we used to get on I-459.

For one, many of our friends have moved on. John likened this trip to revisiting your college campus. Some of the buildings look the same, but there are small changes to be noticed everywhere, and very few familiar faces.

But looking around at all that has changed around us since our last visit caused me to notice what is perhaps the biggest change of all: us.

It has been a little more than 7 years since I moved down to Birmingham. I was living alone for the first time in my life (at a place we just found out is now known in the area for a giant Mexican drug cartel murder, no less!). John and I were students- we had crazy schedules including school, part-time church jobs, and lots of adventures. We were young & in young love. It really was a magical time.

It is easy for an idealist like me to get caught up in the idea of how life used to be there. To remember when we found the house we rented when we got married, the one within walking distance of the library and post office and Whistle Stop Cafe. To sigh when remembering strolling with a much younger Al Dog around Samford's campus or one of the lakes near my apartment. To think about how much time John and I spent together, even with those crazy student schedules...

Of course, there are realities that I remember too, if I allow myself to think hard enough. Some just a little less magical, some mundane, and some are downright harsh. There were days (and sometimes several of them in a row!) when we couldn't leave fast enough. But in some ways it's even nice to remember those. It's a reminder that we survived, even thrived, and came out better on the other side.

When I sat down to type this, I was ready to say that I loved our life together in Birmingham. I'm not sure that's the best way to say it anymore. I loved our life together, and I still love our life together. To use a trite stage analogy, Birmingham wasn't a player; it was only the backdrop.

The scenery has changed, some key characters have been added, and there has been some aging depth-adding for the leads, but the story continues. There are new plot twists and lots of adventure and even a few musical numbers, but it is our show. With an All-powerful Producer/Director, of course.

So yes, it has been fun to take this trip down memory lane. But when I think about Doris Day singing about her Sentimental Journey, I think she got part of it wrong (which is hard for me to say because I love me some Doris. Who doesn't?) My Sentimental Journey didn't lead me home. It reminded me with whom (and Whom) I've built a home. And how blessed I am to have them, no matter where I end up or what lies ahead.


I mean, it's just like Doris said, "Que sera, sera..." (You can't not reference this song in a post about Doris Day. It wouldn't be right...)