Meet The McKinneys

For those of us that uproot ourselves and find a new place our home. Going Home-Home can conjure up all kinds of feelings. Excitement, Nostalgia, and homesickness.

Five years ago, I left the only home I have ever really known, Valdosta, and took root in Augusta, GA. I left behind my family, friends, as well as a number of other firsts in my life. Among them my first home, first car, first school, to name a few. The excitement wells up inside me like that summer beach trip you went on as a kid. To say the least, I was really looking forward to going home and seeing my family again.

On Friday, Before the trip I had finally nailed down a possible departure time…then changed my mind again and we left that night around 7:20P.M. After a few bathroom breaks and a lotto ticket stop, we found ourselves stopped on the south bound I-75 interstate highway for about an hour. Gabby was fussy and so were we. We thought there must have been an accident or something in the rainy beginnings of the labor day weekend. Nope. Just some jerk cop left his blue lights on. He must have done it to slow traffic down. I could go off on a tangent about how what he did was illegal because it prohibits interstate commerce and is therefore unconstitutional, but I’ll spare you. We finally got going again. We pulled into mom’s driveway and I could hardly wait to see her. We were exhausted. We just poured out of my truck and into bed.

That night, I dreamed like a kid on Christmas Eve. I awoke to the sound of speechless laughter that only a grandparent and grandchild can create. The weekend continued with much of the same. My only regret was that our time was so short. Not enough time to see all of my friends or ride by my old house. Nor was there time to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, The Wooden Nickel. Nor was there time to do much at all in my native home.

I feel awful because not only was it my mom’s birthday, it was Marshal’s, birthday on Saturday. We didn’t make it by to see him, Tammy, or Haleigh. I wanted to get by to see my buddy Scott too, but the clock ticked away at our time. I heard he is doing so awesome now. Running his business well and living life to the fullest. We ran to Target on Saturday afternoon to get some diapers and we ran into Brett. He probably thought I was talking his ear off. I just miss him, that’s all. We didn’t make it by to see his wife and new baby either.

Yep….the only thing that sucks about going home…..is leaving.