ahhahh, kansas! there’s no place like home…
my mom and i just spent 4 days in the phoenix, arizona, metro area. we attended a lovely wedding–my “godsister’s”–held at a golf resort. the decor was gorgeous–outdoor wedding in a small grotto, tucked away from the hustle of the driving range, cocktail party by the fountains, and dinner and dance reception in a fully decked-out ballroom.
even nicer than the wedding was the time we got to spend with cindy and lance, parents of the bride, mom’s good friends from college, my godmother and her husband. sharing photos of the past year and catching up on life was wonderful–and a rare treat, as we saw them last just over a year ago at my wedding. typically it’s several years between visits.
and for me, the time i got to spend with my mom was best of all. i love it when the whole family gets together, but it’s a nice treat for me to get to spend time with mom alone. we stayed in “grandma’s house,” a 2-bedroom home in a retirement community; no cable, no radio, no internet… so it was nice and quiet! we relaxed in the morning when we woke up before the sun by 5:30 am (we were still on kansas time, 2 hours later), we drove a hot little nissan 2-seater around town to the mall and out to lunch, came back for afternoon naps, and enjoyed the quiet time with each other. mom even taught me to knit!
as much fun as we had together, i have to say, there are some drawbacks to spending time in the great state of arizona. first, the air is SO dry. my throat still hurts from the lack of humidity. second, everything is brown or clay colored. i missed grass and trees. third, it was HOT. upper 80s to mid 90s was standard, and now i’m cold at home when it’s 67 degrees out! fourth, the oranges were not ripe yet. no fresh-squeezed oj for us.
most people would never consider kansas a “green” or “lush” state. but once you’ve spent a few days in the desert, kansas looks like a regular rain forest! as we left the kansas city airport and headed back toward i-70, my mom and i turned to each other at the same time and said, “it’s so good to be back HOME.” we could breathe easily again, there was moisture in the air, there were lush trees beginning to change color at the first signs of autumn, there was green grass along the highway, and the horizon was met by the clear blue sky rather than the “pincushion” of palm trees dotted along the landscape.
i said to my mom, “i never really appreciated the old kansas jingle–’ahhahh kansas!’” and in the words of another famous (albeit fictional) kansan, it’s true, “there’s no place like home…”
