I link up with Lisa-Jo on Fridays for a writing flash mob…throwing caution to the wind and gathering to share what a few minutes of free writing can buy. 

Today’s topic: HOME

GO.

She padded downstairs well before 7 am and put her bags by the front door, ready to go and the sleepover isn’t for another 12 hours. She walked over proudly and said she was all packed and ready…and then, with the bravest face I’ve seen, declared Minnie wasn’t going with her to the sleepover.

My breath caught for just a minute because she just turned nine and I’m not ready for her to let go of Everything. And as soon as I was able to inhale the understanding dawned in sync with the morning sun.

Are you sure, honey?

Her gorgeous blue eyes filled with tears and she clung close and whispered, “I don’t want anyone to make fun of me that I sleep with her.”

My heart cracked just a little and I scooped her up onto the couch and we shared. We shared how real friends don’t make fun of each other; how the other girls will probably have things they sleep with, too. How she could hide Minnie in her bag or pillow case because just knowing she’s there will make her feel better.

She liked that idea — that she could bring Home with her and carry her around and no one even had to know Home came with her.

And I realized nine year-olds aren’t the only ones that do this — that carry a piece of Home with them when they’re stepping outside their comfort zone and maybe are a little bit afraid.

I brought Home with me when I ran my first race.

I brought Home with me to my first writer’s conference.

I bring Home with me any time I write and put it all out there for critique and criticism, or take a stand for something no one else understands.

Home is that courage-despite-fear and that excited-though-anxious feeling that falls like rain when we worry we’ll be made fun of and ridiculed. It’s that comfort of knowing we haven’t failed even if we’ve failed, and that we’ve succeeded even if we haven’t succeeded. It’s the assurance of the calling and the assurance of The One Who Calls — that’s Home.

And we all carry it. Whether we’re nine or 39, whether it’s a prayer or a scripture or a stuffed mouse — we bring it with us wherever we go.

The important thing is that we GO. What we have tucked away is just the ticket that helps us get moving.

STOP.