Returning home

Finding Home

Returning home, Often thought of as an easy task. Thoughts of seeing friends and loved ones come to mind. Getting back to the lifestyle that was left behind. When I returned home, I saw friends that I missed, I gave lots of hugs, and I answered the same questions over and over and over. And even though I was back in Alaska, my home for the last 3 years almost, I wasn't home just yet, the one thing I had looked forward to for the duration of my trip to Afghanistan..

I looked forward to be surrounded by the things that remind me of the life I have lived, the people that I know, and the family that I love. Home means many things to many people. I have had to make a home time and time again in many different places. I seem to have it down to an art. With all the things I have collected, gifts from friends, to little nick knacks from various places from my travels. I have quite the collection of things and have earned, and perhaps deserve, the title Pack Rat. However I attest that these things that I have collected become more home to me than the building that I reside in.

When you surround yourself with the memories of your family and friends that can not be with you through the travels that have to be made, the most modest living area can be made into a refection of yourself, your home. No matter where, how far, how isolated, how lonely, home can be made from the little things from our past. Things to remind us who we are and where we came from, when it can be easy to forget.

So being a pack rat is so much more than keeping things for the sake of it. For me it has become a way to keep home with me where ever I go.

*****

When it was time for me to move out of my house in Alaska and go to Afghanistan, I wasn't limited to how much Luggage I could bring with me. I was responsible for the cargo that we brought with us, so I could pack a plenty of my own items. I packed my Jeep Gr. Cherokee full and brought it to work to be packed and sent along with the cargo planes. (Not the Jeep itself just the contents of it !)

Packing for summer camp in Afghan Land was difficult. From my huge collection of things that make up my home, I had to chose Items over others to take with me. This was like what I imagine having to chose a favorite child would be like. Even though I have my favorites it is hard to look at things and decide what is going to help though the times that are hard. Ultimately things are chosen that bring back the fun times in your life, things that remind you of the people that love you. It was hard to narrow it down but I did it. Items that were Baby Blue (Carolina Blue) and had words like Tarheel and Chapel Hill written on them, were also in the list of things to take. In the end, my objective to make Afghanistan my home for the time that I was there was accomplished.

The First of October brought my new apartment, and I got to set up home once again. This has made my fourth address in the 99705 zip code here is Alaska. Pictures went up on the walls, candles were placed around the rooms, and the shelves filled with little items that wouldn't bring in fifty cents at a yard sale. Over the weeks that it took to get things unpacked, the small 500 square foot apartment was transformed by my memories into my home, and it feels like I have been here for years.

*****

Finding my way back into the Alaskan way of life was a difficult task. The hardest parts about being in Alaska were the first thing to deal with once I had returned. The loneliness of being so far away from family comes back quick. With out the busyness of working twelve hours a day in Afghanistan, the mind has time to think. Returning from a place like Afghanistan, or Iraq or any deployment for a long time, you want to settle back into the familiar comforts of family, and loved ones. While staying with friends, with out the comforts of your home welcoming your home, loneliness is unavoidable.

However I found things to busy my self with. Tasks like finding a new apartment and moving soon filled the agenda. Soon after than I was back to work.

*****

Now I'm back to working my two jobs, and balancing my time out between them and the other things I have to do. Back to to stresses that have always been apart of my life here. And with that and my Apartment that is filled to the brim with items that will make quite a yard sale one day, I'm at home again.

"So being a pack rat is so much more than keeping things for the sake of it."

Lots of people sent letters and boxes to Afghan Land. Thanks so much to them.