I'm already there

my parents, circa 1975

Ok,

So, Danielle and I (and the kids) decided to run up to Pennsylvania this weekend to surprise my mom, who had a birthday last week.

 4 children, 5 states, 3 bathroom breaks, 16 french toast sticks, and 457 miles later..we arrived.

I will be posting the video of us surprising her when I get back to my computer..trust me, this one is worth waiting for.

 It involves darkness, a sword, hiding under the table, and my arguing with a 1 year old.

All within 30 seconds of ground breaking film:)

I love it here.

It's just something about Pennsylvania.

 And something about being home.

The longer I work in social work, the stronger my belief in the importance of family becomes.

My parents were not perfect.

It's a subject often discussed by me and my sisters.

The good things and the bad.

But they gave me a sense of home and family and I have always had a place to come to, where I have felt loved and accepted.

Many of my clients don't have that.

And so, while I may lament that my mother never taught me how to walk in heels and that my dad wasn't at many of my field hockey games, I don't think I could have asked for too much more.

 They have always made any house we lived in, a home.

Out of the dreariness,

Into its cheeriness,

Come we in weariness,

Home.

Stephen Chalmers

Lori Ann