Perfectly Divided

I just spent a week back home in Minnesota, in Lake country.  Up north.  God’s Country is what we’ve called it since I could remember talking…  and so it is.

A week with my parents.  A week with both my brothers, my sister, brother in law, three nephews, 29 cousins, 14 aunts and uncles, and the two that started it all--my 83 and 82 year old Grandparents.

55 Herdina’s in one place.

and we all survived.

How is it that since I was born, and far beyond, we’ve always had this crazy, insane, funny, adventurous, fun family dynamic … and everyone gets along?

Sure, we battle through bruises and fling over tables and jump over each other when we play peaceful games like, Spoons.

We dump each other when going tubing, skiing, jetskiing, knee boarding… and canoeing.

And then there are times when we decide that taking the canoe up a 50 foot vertical sandhill and putting an 11 year old in the drivers seat as it bobsleds down the cascading sand into the frigid water below is a good idea.

We find solace and great conversation on the beaches.

Sometimes, all we do is eat…. in fact, most times, all we’re doing is eating…

We like to read.  Or at least, have our book in our hand so it looks like we read.

We want to take pictures of the Big Catch but get hollered at to get the Net instead!  And then get hollered at when we didn’t get a picture of the big catch.

We’re human jungle gyms.

There’s enough grandchildren to watch the great grandchildren so the children and their children can go for a nice ‘big kid’ night out.

We learn our heritage, and we learn our language.  And we learn what a real Bohemian is and much to our surprise "Hopah" is not, in fact, an American word.

We have 'sweephovahs'

People’s teeth fall out, and it’s okay because everyone in the family’s teeth have fallen out.. either by nature’s course or because they crash the JetSki.

We laugh.  We cry.  We cry because we laugh.

And it’s in moments and memories like these I truly find it hard to be in so many places.  

My home is in Nashville.

My heart is in Africa.

My family is in Minnesota.

I’m so happy in my home, while I’m always missing my heart, and yet am truly myself with my family.

How can I be in three places at once?

How can the heart be so divided … so equally?

And how do you find comfort in missing two places, when you’re finding comfort in living in one?

My heart is perfectly divided.

and one day… I will find a way to be in three places at once.