I miss home. I miss my people. I miss my church. I miss my mountains, and snow, and bitter cold. I miss familiar voices, familiar laughs, familiar touches. The truth today is that I miss home.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the people that I know here at school. I have met some of the most genuine, honest, caring, helpful, and compassionate people here. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to be with, and I am surrounded by a great family that I love. I am so thankful for this family.

But I miss my family. My parents and their questions about technology. I miss my grandma and her familiar hands holding mine. I miss my brother and sister-in-law and working with them in the hay fields. I miss my nephew and his hugs and laughter. I miss my pastor and her gentle spirit and our long talks. I miss my kids at youth group and their passion for living. I miss my church and the warm hugs and handshakes each Sunday. I miss my friends and their crazy stories about Star Wars, cartoons, rafting, skiing, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, and road trips.

I miss my Rectangle. I miss the icy cold river, fed by the melting and freezing snowpack. I miss the familiar high-desert with its pinion trees, cacti, and sandy soil. I miss the fourteen-thousand foot peaks reaching to the heavens. I miss the days upon days of blue sky and sunshine, without a cloud to speak of. I miss the solitariness of being in the forest. I miss the lodgepole pines packed densely together in the higher elevations and not being able to see 50 yards ahead. I miss being in a small valley with the smell of the sage lingering in the air. I miss seeing deer, elk, bighorn sheep, beavers, coyotes, rabbits, bears, eagles, cutthroat trout, prairie dogs, weasels, rattle snakes, and chipmunks.

I know I’m supposed to be here in Austin, doing this seminary thing – this ‘preacher school’ stuff. I know I have countless people I can reach out to at a moment’s notice and they would be at my door in 30 seconds. I know Texas has its own sights and smells and adventures, and I know I will become more comfortable with this location and these people. But today, I miss home.

much love. sheth.