I really was expecting Amanda to be writing this blog tonight, but as I went up and picked up the laptop next to her sleeping, I noticed it was not there. So I guess I am on my own! I do not fault her one bit either. She said she would, but I also knew she was not feeling well. She has a pretty good excuse!

So it is now quite late, and I am once again typing. I am certain if it were earlier I might be able to conjure up something quite spectacular or even profound. But tonight we will just need to go with what we get.

I was out for a bit tonight and did a lot of driving on my way through the country. Driving through tall fields of corn on both sides of the road is something that really reminds me of home. I know that people often define home as where they live, but I also define it as where I grew up. My hometown, though it still exists, has clearly disappeared from how I knew it. Mishawaka, Indiana was a small town when I grew up, but now it must be ten times as large. And Goshen, where I spent many a weekend and summers with my grandparents has changed a lot too. Progress and development doesn’t always mean what people sometimes think it means. I valued where I grew up, and I still do……but progress and development have made those two great places disappear from how I knew them. To me, it is a sad tale.

But when I get out on a country road and drive through the corn I feel pretty good. I roll my windows down and don’t just take in the sights, but also the sounds and the smells. It takes me back to a very important time. And though I have no regrets about where I am at now, the feelings that well up in me as I reminisce on these drives, do my present day self a whole lot of good. They not only give me a glimpse of my past, but they give me a real shot in the arm too. They are truly a gift from God.

I am pretty tired and will go to bed, but I am hoping for a dream about running out in the corn like we did as kids! Those were such great times. And dreaming may be the only way I get to do that again.

My wife has made it clear…….she doesn’t like it when I act like a lunatic!

Night my friends and God Bless!

Tom+