I’ve climbed in the cloud forests of Colombia, marveled at marble palaces in the Moscow Metro, safaried on the savanna of East Africa, and summited peaks of Down Under. But there is never a place that compares to home. 🙂
Coming home generally involves hugs and hellos (yay!), unpacking (yuck), and reminiscing. Here are a few (of many) things I’ll miss about Aotearoa:
- Bushwalks and bird songs
- One-lane bridges
- Clear Milky Way nights
- Left-handed roundabouts
- Tree palms
- Jagged green mountains
- Lambs EVERYWHERE
- Lack of mirrors (so I could feel as if I were the fairest in the land)
- Expressions like “sweet as” and “good on ya”
- Smaller expressions like “Jessica? I want you to play with me” and “Thank you fo’ Jesu’ Amen” 🙂
- My hosts*
*There is no way this trip could have happened without the gracious welcome of my hosts. I won the lottery on this trip. I wasn’t sure there was anyone in the world who had the patience to let someone live in their living room (which was also their kitchen and bedroom) for 3 weeks, with nary a complaint or a sigh of get-out-of-here-I’m-sick-of-you; not even a hint of upturned nose at my smell after skipping showers for days on end!
Katherine is still the sweethearted soul I knew in high school, with flashes of uninhibited joyful abandon. She’s become a delightful mother and homemaker; I’m especially thankful for her culinary talents. 🙂
Darren isn’t half-bad, either, though his lengthy list of dad jokes had me eye-rolling every few hours. 😉 Darren was an excellent tour guide and chauffeur, offering tastes of native Kiwi life whenever he could, be it showing clever possum advertisements or sharing frozen pineapple lumps for dessert.
We had such nice evenings of conversation, after lovely days of travel and sight-seeing, after pleasant (but early) breakfast and bus clean-up mornings. Katherine and Darren’s children have exceptionally caring and patient parents, and are some of the sweetest kids I know.
Most astounding of all, Katherine and Darren not only made me feel a welcome member of the tour group, they thanked me for coming. What depth of hospitality!
Reconnecting with one friend and making connections with many new friends was the greatest part of this trip. After all, aren’t relationships what life is all about?
Conversations on El Camino 
Jessica, You are truly amazing. I loved it all along with you. NZ is a special place in my memory bank. Although I was with a family that was visiting their their family who lived there, I did have to go alone to every place that was suggested for me to see. Yes, I loved it all, but HOME is really where I belonged. I think you know the feeling by now, too. Thanks for taking me along with you , up and down the mountains, No and So NZ. greenery every where, little lambs, it seems, on every hillside. God is good!
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Very kind words, Jess.
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