Five Minute Friday: Home

Happy Friday! This is means it's time for another Five Minute Friday post. As a part of Lisa Jo Baker’s Five Minute Friday writing challenge, every Friday a group of eclectic bloggers turn off our inner critics and perfectionists and just write for five minutes straight. Zero editing. Just a stream of consciousness free for all. And then we all link up and encourage each other. To learn more about Five Minute Friday and how you can participate click  here.Today's topic, on which I wrote unedited for five minutes and posted below for your reading pleasure, is HOME.GO.HomeI'm coming up on eight months of living abroad. Eight months of the first word to pop into my head after home as sick.Missing home.Missing community.Missing friends.Missing the crash of ocean spray and car seats gritty with sand. Missing a car, period.Most days I can barely taste it, the bitter sting of missing. I swallow it down, continue scooping tortillas across bean-filled plates and breathing out Buenos dias, buenas tardes, buenas noches to passerby in the streets, and soaking in the sun of Parque Central while shoe shine boys yell Lustre, lustre, couples--too young and too old--caress each other on slatted benches, and cars blast reggaeton as they hobble over the cobblestone streets.I send emails and schedule skype dates and try not to lose the me I am when I'm with my friends, when I'm at my best.It's not all bad. There are glimpses of home here, too. Of growth and community and choosing to reach out and connect.So I write down the gifts.And I wonder if I should stop trying to make this place home and be satisfied with letting this place be here. Here for now. And, subsequently, allow myself to be all here.Thank you God for most this amazing day. For little bits of Spanish conversation. For impromptu lunch dates and surprise meetings in the park. For kissing on the cheek. For salsa rhythms. For the new young adults group that has finally taken off. For prayers whispered in English and Spanish to grow and change and bless and love.For the home I have in You. For the home You've made in me. Here.***To learn more about Five Minute Friday and how you can participate click  here.