Well, I've been home for a week now, and wow, what a whirlwind time it's been! My heart is so overjoyed with all the love that has been poured out to me over the last seven days!
I posted a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald earlier this week, which seemed especially fitting to me during my brief time home over the holidays. And while it is true that some things around my neighborhood have changed, the important things are still there. The Louisiana accents that flew with me from Dallas to Baton Rouge, the towering oak trees along the streets as we drove home from the airport, the warm, humid air in the middle of December, my mom's Christmas decorations and the smell of my house, they're all the same. And after 24 hours of travel on almost no sleep, it felt like all these things wrapped their arms around me and gave me a huge, welcome-home hug.
It's been 14 months since I've been at my house in South Louisiana - fourteen months since I had my last plate of fresh cajun cooking, or slept in my bed, or hugged my best friends. But I suppose for me, it's not that I feel as if I've changed (although I know I have) or outgrown this place in those 14 months, it's that now I'm really taking notice of the things that matter to me. As if I'm trying to breathe them in like the sweet, Southern air that raised me - holding it in my lungs until they burn with the fullness.
But an important difference now is that while I'm seeing friends and family here, there are family and traditions I left behind in Budapest. I can't help but feel torn between two places, wanting to be in both places at one time. So while I spend time at home, Hungary is still on my mind. I see my life here and want to share it with all my friends...
Like my university (complete with purple and gold Christmas tree)
our mascot, Mike the tiger
and what we do at my school for fun (beat UAB in basketball)
my friends
and family
(whom drive to Louisiana sometimes to surprise me)!
But mostly I'm trying to share my story; attempting to communicate my life in Hungary while showing a glimpse of where I come from, and though feeling pulled in two directions is not easy or ideal, it's a position I'm blessed to be in.
Now as we celebrate the long-awaited birth of our Lord, whether near or far from home, let us all remember the gift of love given to our world and take notice of all the ways He has blessed us throughout our lives.
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas.
Nagyon boldog karácsonyt mindenkinek.
Amy
"It's all right, children. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it."
Kermit the Frog; A Muppet Christmas Carol