Hallow's Eve

October 31, 2001- The moon sat full in a bed of foggy clouds, lingering over us as my family and I exited off Hwy 85 and pulled the big Ryder moving truck into a parking lot to look at our map and figure out where we were going (literally and figuratively). I was 15 years old, a Sophomore in High School. We had just arrived to a place called Lawrenceville, Georgia. Coming from the west coast I had imagined this place was as southern as I saw in the movies. A place where grown men commonly wore overalls, women you just met called you "honey" as if they 'd known you your whole life,  and everyone owned a pair of cowboy boots. I wasn't too far off either. 

I didn't know what to make of it. Being welcomed to our new home by a full moon on Halloween night seemed rather bewitching. I now know that the parking lot we pulled into to look at our map was the parking lot of the store where Zack (also a 15 year old sophomore at the High School down the rode from where I would go) was about to start his first job, though I wouldn't meet him for another three years. So, as the enchantment of Halloween fell upon us, maybe the magical wands were indeed at work! A girl born in Arizona. A boy born in Alabama. And somehow we would end up sitting next to each other in Philosophy class in Georgia, our attention to the subject distracted by a game of  "Hang Man" and discussions on the music of Led Zeppelin, unaware of our fateful role together.

October 31, 2005-Our first Halloween together- 19 yrs. old

Ten years ago I couldn't imagine my life would be what it is today. As a twenty-five year old woman married to a man who seemed to magically drop into my life at the perfect time holding an invisible sign saying "made especially for you" and mother to a little girl made somewhere deep within the dwelling of Heaven, I am reminded on a daily basis of what it means to truly live. I have been blessed with the opportunity to deeply and honestly love and be loved. It almost scares me to imagine what my life would be if I hadn't moved here, hadn't met Zack, hadn't made the decision to spend my life with him. 

Dinner-In-A-Pumpkin

This Halloween, as I light the candles, hang my lanterns, open my windows to the enthralling trance of the whipping wind, and feast on dinner in a pumpkin, I'll remember the past ten years. I'll be reminded of what each year taught me and how it led me to where I am, how it's revealed and strengthened who I really am and how it's brought me to my husband and daughter, how it's brought me Home.

Daddy's little yellow jacket (though she looks more like a sweet honey bee to me)