Today, on this 23rd day of February in the year of 2021, the sun is shining, the layers of warmth are not needed, and God has blessed this part of the world with 60 degrees of pre-spring. I am sitting in a passenger seat of a rusty old box truck with a laptop keeping my thighs toasty warm – work is just a click away on the taskbar at the bottom of this page. But first.

We are making our way west across Kansas, headed back home after a quick but necessary trip to Kansas City. Sam made the trek yesterday, loaded from floor to ceiling in this diesel-chugger, me following behind in my small SUV carrying a backseat full of large framed pictures and a flat screen TV.

Today, with the help of some wonderful friends, the furniture was unloaded into our new garage after the official handing over of the keys and garage door opener outside the title company office.

It is noisy enough in the cab of this truck, pretty much the only thing we can listen to is our own thoughts on the craziness of the latest adventure. My thoughts take me to reflection…

Replanting is in Sam’s DNA. Like farm ground that harvests a great crop for several years, sometimes it just needs to sit dormant and rest awhile. Sometimes, the crop needs to switch things up and grow in a different field.

We are nomadic. Never too settled, it doesn’t phase us a bit to load up and try something new, some place new. God knew we were a pair – always willing to go with the flow, spend hours on the road, and consider “home” wherever we happen to be. It is who we are.

I am grateful for new adventures with my best friend.

I am grateful for another opportunity to purge and weed out the growing collection of things.

I am grateful I don’t have to live in this box truck.

I am grateful he is driving so I can work and write while sweating in the sun coming through the windshield.

I am grateful for a cousin realtor who puts up with our crazy ideas and continues to produce just what we think we need.

I am grateful for new projects, even if it means sheetrock dust.

I am grateful for new yet familiar.

I am grateful to be able to keep what we love without having to let go of everything.

And I am grateful for the “sign” – a penny left in the middle of the new living room floor. Aunt Patsy taught me to never disregard – it is our reminder to put our trust in God. We do. And we will as we go forward through the rest of 2021.