To say we were unprepared for the final days of our home sale would be a monumental understatement.  What began as a steady, somewhat disciplined effort so many months ago ended in a cartoon-like scene of jettisoning anything not breathing to empty our mother ship. The morning of our home closing Friday, we found ourselves in a lifeboat 29 feet long, full of God-knows-what. Somewhere in the clutter, three kids, including our very sick youngest.

Hands had been extended, and we took one. Or several. The trip that had waited this long could wait one more day. So before we set out on points south and west, we rested and recovered in Mount Airy, MD, at Rich and Teresa”s.

Snow was on the way again, so we couldn’t wait too long. But that one day was priceless.

Long ago, standing on the side of some dusty exit ramp on another journey, I realized that the freedom to travel, at least for me, comes part and parcel with having an umbilical cord that connects me to a home. We are free, emotionally, to make this trip with our kids because we rest in the certain knowledge that if we fall, we will land in a safety net of love that extends further than we can ever drive, or sail, or walk.

As the magician Terry Evanswood said during his WonderWorks Magic Show last night in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, realizing how blessed we are is the real magic.  We left a house in Eldersburg last week.  We will always have a home.

This week we are in eastern Tennessee, at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Suggestions, anyone?

Next, we discover Pigeon Forge, and the teacher learns valuable lessons while road schooling.