The Lights Are Off

It was 1985 when my sister informed us that she and her husband were moving to Texas to begin their newly married lives with the promise of exciting new jobs and opportunities. As a Long Island girl, I had a hard time picturing my sister with horses, cattle, and cowboy boots.

Well, they created a beautiful and successful life there raising their amazing daughter Alex and called north Texas home for decades. Flash forward about six years ago and once again I was somewhat shocked to hear they planned to move again, this time to Oklahoma, where Alex and her new husband had settled. Together, the four of them have formed a successful cattle company, and now, a Mercantile store on their sprawling properties.

I still have a hard time reconciling the fact that my sisters and I have wandered so far from the Long Island style of living – (Jeanne in Oklahoma and my other sister, Peggy, in Virginia) and me… sitting in an RV with Gary and the dogs in the middle of wherever. 

We all called Long Island home for the first twenty plus years of our lives, loving that the beach and New York City were both within our reach, loathing the traffic and congestion and the fast pace living. We each set out for something different. My sisters each found a new state to call home for the past 40 years.

Me? Well, I left Long Island and have been traveling and traversing the country with my family ever since.

Gary and I enjoyed our week in Oklahoma, experiencing a slower pace and peaceful respite from the road. The sunsets in Oklahoma are truly stunning, reminiscent of those Montana sunsets, where the sky seems endless and provides a panoramic view of the brightest orange, red, purple, and yellow hues.

The land is flat and green, the dirt beneath the tall grass is red. The cows, or cattle, (what’s the difference, really, I don’t know) are plentiful, and the tiny towns are either tired or filled with the requisite Tractor Supply store and a Walmart.

But I have also lived in my share of tiny towns and there definitely is something to be said for the sense of community and kindness that comes from knowing all your neighbors and a sense of commitment to ensuring the safety of the community, as a whole.

Spending the week with family is always good for the soul. These are my people, my lifeline to my life story. We will be spending a week with my other sister next month, and I will get to fill up on my family ties once again.

There is a sign that I hung up in the RV this year. It reads, ‘Home is wherever I’m with you’. 

What is home to you, dear reader? Is it a finite place, is it a building to reside in, is it where you happen to be in the moment, or is it when you are with certain folks?

Home, for me, is wherever I am whenever I am with my people.

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