Home Sweet Home

A long time ago, when David and I were engaged and living in different parts of the country, he sent me a love letter. He included a poem that said:

Although I conquer all the earth
Yet for me there is only one city.
In that city there is for me
Only one house.
And in that house, one room only.
And in that room, a bed.
And a woman sleeps there:
The shining jewel and joy
Of all my world.

When I was expecting Calvin, I wrote out this poem in lettering that matched the small things we had collected for his room and put instead, "my little boy sleeps there." In the same frame, I put my favorite picture of David when he was a little boy, sleeping with a baseball cap on, arm flung across the bed, cheeks all rosey. We still have the poem and the picture, hanging in Charlie's room now.

A week and a half ago, I was standing on a beautiful beach in Wales. The beach soothes my soul like nothing else and the ocean never fails to inspire me with awe and peace. I watched Charlie play in the sand with my friend, I gathered a few unusual shells, then I sat with Jane on the retaining wall as the tide came in.

Suddenly, as I looked out, it was so beautiful to me and I just started aching for David to be with me. I was thoroughly loving the moment, but it felt somehow sad to enjoy it without him.

It was then that I was ready to come back to Kiev. London was perfectly wonderful in every way (I have a post on that for later...), but suddenly I knew that I wanted to be with my husband and my little boys, sharing the world I have with them, rather than simply enjoying the beauty and wonder of the world and one of the greatest cities in it, without them.

So I've been back in Kiev for two days now. I'm tired and getting back into the swing of things and a little of the old humdrum, but now all the shining jewels and joy of my whole world are here.

Truly, there's no place like the one city, the one house, the one room where they are.