highlights...

As promised, here is a list of highlights from my month-long vacation at home. This is going to be a fairly long list so consider yourself warned.

*70 degrees! When I boarded the plane in Anchorage on December 15, it was -5; and when I landed in Kansas City on the 16th, it was 72. My dad and I headed straight to Chipotle where we ate lunch outside. It remained in the 50s, 60s, and 70s for the better part of my stay.
*Nieces and nephews, seven of them! I miss all those kids so much it hurts. I got some good cuddle time in with them.
*Secrets! I spent 5 days at my oldest sister's (Traci's) place in Topeka along with her husband and 5 kids. I had Josiah on my lap, he's the third oldest. I asked him if he wanted to hear a secret and he said that he did. I put my lips up against his ear and made kissy noises over and over again. After that, every so often he would say, "Aunt Chwis, I want to hear a secret." And I would do it all over again. Then Hannah, the second youngest started doing it too.
*Nothing! Entire days filled with doing a whole lot of it. 'nough said, I think.
*Grilled cheese! Again, I was at Traci's place and we were having grilled cheese one day at lunch. Someone asked Hannah if she wanted to know a secret and she said that she did expecting the same kissy noises. That person must have told her that her Aunt Chris loved her because she gasped out, "Aunt Chwis loves me!" Upon hearing this I said, "I sure do. I love you whole bunches!" Then Josiah said, "I love YOU, Aunt Chwis." And I said, "I love you too, Josiah." And Hannah said, "Well, I love my grilled cheese!"
*Friends! This trip I got to spend some time with two friends in particular and we went to deeper levels in both of them - had deeper conversation, a more rich time.
*A mini high school reunion! My best friend from high school is dating someone, Jack, that we went to high school with although I don't remember him at all from back then. I remember his friends but not him. Anyway, Jack's best friend is Dirk who also went to high school with us. One night while I was staying at Nida's, we made gumbo and invited Jack and Dirk over along with Rod, also from high school but 2 years ahead of us. It was fun and weird too, to sit there 12 years later with people I didn't know before and talk about common memories.
*Kansas! I discovered for the first time the grand beauty of Kansas and Missouri. I had never noticed it before. It's a quiet beauty, the kind that I can imagine Donald Miller writing about in only the way that he can, that prose of his that brings nostalgia to the surface.
*Family! I spent gobs of time with family - aunts, uncles, cousins, fiances of cousins, grandparents, parents, etc... I miss those people!
*Cats! My dad has become a cat person since I've been in Alaska. He has never, ever, ever, ever liked cats. And now he has 3! A girl named Martha Kneader, a boy named Chester, and a little girl kitten named Moo. Watching him play with those cats warmed my heart!
*Community and fellowship! Being back at my church in the communities in which I was involved before moving was so good for my heart. Fusion and The Gathering were my communities, the places I went to when I needed to be fed - Fusion for more of a social feeding and The Gathering for a spiritual nourishment.
*Surprises! The first Sunday I was in town I went to church un-announced. After the service my friend Chad Rader saw me and did a double take and reached out to hug me. He said, "Wow! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"
*Reading! I got to read a lot while I was home. I enjoy doing this more than I enjoy watching movies even though I watch more movies than I do read books.
*Laughter! There was a whole lotta laughing going on almost the entire time.
*Sunrises on the lake! My dad lives on Tuttle Creek Lake in Manhattan, KS and the sun would rise from across the water and cast red-orange-yellow on the water in silvery paths of light.
*Sunsets behind the hills! The other direction on my dad's property is just miles and miles and miles of Kansas hill country. The sun would sink down behind them as though they were pillows and the sun was a head going down for the night.
*Time! I realized that my best friend from high school, Nida, and I still complete each other's sentences and say the same things at exactly the same time after so many years and after so many months of being separated. We've both changed so much but not as much as I'd thought after all.
*Love! While home I felt loved in a more complete way that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.
*Food! Chipotle / 1st Watch / Olive Garden / Tequila Harry's
*Dinner! This is very different than simply food. Dinner is when you gather with family or friends around a table and partake together - partaking of food and drink, and partaking of life.
*Zoo! Nida and I got to play zoo with Jack's daughter Lexi. And Jack was the gorilla and we were the cats and he was out to capture us.
*Late nights! The best conversations take place very late at night and very early in the morning. Especially with Nida and I.
*Internet free! I made a commitment that while I was on break, I was breaking from everything - blogging, emailing, myspacing, facebooking. It was nice.
*Dominoes! I learned to play dominoes while I was home. The same night as the gumbo, Dirk had brought his domino set. Jack and I whipped up on Dirk and Nida. I did well for my first time, I must say!
*Coffee shops! I frequented lots of coffee shops while home. Coffee shop convos rank right up there with late-night convos.
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat with lemon / frozen margaritas with salt / wine with dinner.
*Cheap! Everything's cheaper in the midwest. Gas was $1.95 - compared to Alaska's $2.70, that's cheap!
*Movies! Going to the movies in Kenai/Soldotna means going to a building a little bigger than a large house to see a movie on one of two or three screens. And it means hitting the theater at just the right time to see what you want to see, because due to the small amount of screens they cycle movies in and out so quickly. In Kansas, going to the movies means going to huge cineplexes where there are 30 or more screens.
*Chiefs! I got to spend time with people who actually care and make a big deal out of Chiefs games and that they made it to the playoffs, even if they did lose in the first round.
Humping and mating! I learned a lot about humping trains from Sam the humpmaster and about the mating department at Hallmark cards from Amy. It was quite educational.
*Worship! I experienced the type of worship that I had been lacking and missing. I actually felt like a vacancy in me had been filled during worship at Heartland.
*Shooting! My dad and I spent a few afternoons shooting on the beach. It just proved that a little practice does make perfect. It was fun and I did really well too!
*Sewing! I was having coffee one night with Amy and as we were leaving the coffee shop my purse strap broke completely off. A couple days later my stepmom helped me make a purse out of a pair of my dad's old overalls. I love it, it's so cute! And I have gotten a lot of compliments on it too!
*More nieces and nephews! Traci told me that she's pregnant again with number 6. And she hopes it's twins - which is actually a possibility.
*Sleep! I got to stay up really late and sleep in really late without having to be anywhere in particular unless I chose to be.
*No agendas! I got to go where I wanted, when I wanted, with whom I wanted, to do what I wanted.
*Friends! Seeing my friends in Kansas and Missouri was fantastic. It was really hard to get back on the plane to come back to Alaska. But once I got here, seeing my friends from school made it worth it.
*Pummellos! This last Sunday after church in Anchorage Tom, Jesse, Adam Wilson, Laura, Anthony, and Pastor Mancini, Ryan, and I all went to New Sagaya (an organic foods market probably similar to Whole Foods) for lunch. Tom and Jesse were breaking open a Pummello, a citrus fruit that is bigger than a grapefruit and has a soft, squishy, thick skin. They were sharing it with the rest of us because we had never heard of them, let alone tasted them, and Pastor Mancini asked, "Where do these come from?" To which Tom dead-panned, "Aisle 2."

This is but a small sampling of the highlights from my trip. I am sure I could always come up with more but they would all just mean more to me than you would understand. The common theme in all of these things is love.