Home

Home is NOT a place... it is a feeling...

I have been visiting my home in North Alabama for the past week. I'm here basically on business this visit which feels strange considering how much I want to spend time with my family but somehow completely tend to fill up my time with work. Its been so nice though, to feel accomplished again as a photographer.

As I was driving to a shoot today in the town I went to high school in... it suddenly hit me... just a sadness. I was flooded with memories and thoughts... some good... some bad. I do love Killen and Florence where I would claim my roots are but something hurt me today about Lexington. I found myself even missing it. The tiniest of tiny towns... had somehow become a huge thing to me.

The best memories are not the snap shots in our mind.... the best kind are the ones that can captivate the senses. Its not the image so much as the feeling...

Much like my current town... Lexington is tiny. There are a few differences... Lexington does not have a Walmart, Hospital, or YMCA. What Lexington does have is a red light at the 4 way stop, a big star, and a cop that never catches a soul because everyone warns you by flashing their lights. The biggest thing in this tiny town is football and Lexington School. (Go Bears might I add). It is so much smaller than my current small town but somehow reflects the warm characteristics that I honestly found unexpected even today. Finding myself missing this place might have thrown me for a loop.

So while driving I begin to think about all the times I had said " I cant wait to graduate and get out of here." Well what a young and moronic statement.... Here I am... Completely out of this little town. Just taking in all that surrounds me....

Fields, Cows and Cotton.... old abandoned barns that called my name ... (come take pictures in front of me)

A sense of security is what I had discovered. How I miss the fullness of being safe. 

Your never a stranger in Lexington... Everyone knows you or at least they pretend to know you or even take the time to say " You new in town?" Its country at its finest. Jeans with Skoal rings and muddy boots topped off with a camo hat is what you will get. Some of the hardest working men and women that I have ever come across have come from Lexington. Always a familiar face ... and youll hear "I havent seen you around here in awhile"... and youll think ... It feels like it was just yesterday.

They say home is where the heart is...

Well, I believe it.

My heart says your home is here... its in every blue sky.. every field... every hay bail. Your home is in North Alabama. 

BUT the truth is ... Home is where my heart wants to be... not where it is.

The memory is a cool October day... and he is driving down a back road. Im just looking at him ... studying his face and hands.... being thankful he was mine. Smelling the coolness of fall and seeing the sun light dance behind him. His blue eyes... oh mercy how they cut straight to my soul. Seeing his crooked smile as he turns the radio up. We are flying down the road, windows down... hair a mess ... holding his hand... and singing at the top of our lungs.

See the absolute truth is that Home is where ever he is. He is equipped with every tool needed to captivate my heart.

Thank you Lord for him...

While I will always miss the beautiful place I grew up in... I know its never too far away.

It's in every smile and in every hug... When he hugs me... I close my eyes and not only can I see it but I feel it.

Home is not a place... it's a feeling...