33

This Saturday, I will be 33.
So, here are my 33 resolutions for the upcoming year:

1. Grow my hair out a little. Between chin & shoulder length sounds good to me
2. Take a bicycle maintenance class
3. Wear more hats
4. Be less flaky
5. Spend more one on one time with each of my 4 kids
6. Take a dance class
7. Visit my family in my hometown way more often
8. Have a family picture taken
9. Build up my savings account
10. Go to a professional football game
11. Have people over for dinner
12. See live music once a month
13. Always have my nails painted
14. Remember to take movies back on time
15. Re-learn to drive stick-shift
16. Get that Sylvia Plath tattoo I've always wanted
17. Go to the DeYoung museum
18. Put the laundry away as soon as it's done
19. Go to a play
20. Have more picnics
21. Buy a real camera & learn still life photography
22. Take/teach my kids (and husband) to ride a horse
23. Learn to hit a baseball
24. Return phone calls & messages
25. Say no when I need to
26. Hike Mt. Tam again
27. See the Sundial bridge in Redding
28. Volunteer somewhere
29. Teach my teenager to drive
30. Lose 33 lbs
31. Take an all girl's trip
32. Write more
33. Watch a sunset from Muir beach with my family

I like the number 33, it has a nice ring to it. I think it's as good a time as any to get going on some simple life goals, don't you? :)

Country road, take me home

I spent the day visiting family in the town I couldn't wait to get away from when I was 17.
I even moved 900 miles away the month before my 18th birthday and it still didn't seem far enough.
I couldn't appreciate that little farm town for what it really was: Home.

My poor husband injured his back (Maude only knows how, probably picking up our toddler who insists she is a real, true Princess of the highest esteem)  and has been laid up for over a week now and to be honest, I'm going stir-crazy. Which is a different kind of crazy than my usual sort.

With nothing else to do, I decided to take the 40 minute trek from Rancho Cordova to my hometown of Woodland, CA to visit my family.

It was a beautiful, sunny day.

We spent some time visiting the lamb my niece is raising through her 4H club and my youngest learned that she only likes farm animals from afar, hahaha.

Most of the day was filled with family that we don't see often enough but at the end of our visit, I decided to take a little nostalgic drive around town.
I showed my oldest the house that his dad grew up in, and the park where I got in WAY too much trouble as a teen.
We drove by my first apartment and the first house my husband & I rented together.
 There is the grocery store that my aunt & uncle own, and that I've worked in at different points in my life (and so has my brother and my Dad).
The TV/Video place my step-dad owns, and the credit union that my Great-aunt helped start.
The Rice Mill where half of my family worked & are retired from.
The many hours that were spent running around Dubach field while my Grandpa played softball in the Senior league.

The gorgeous Historic District that I've yet to see matched by any of the towns I've visited in any of the 8 other states I've traveled to.

It's always been there, but when I was young and had itchy feet, I just couldn't make myself see it.
Some people search their entire lives for something that I didn't know I had all along.
Home means different things to different people but to me home is family, and memories, and a feeling of belonging. I was once rooted to Woodland, CA and someday I hope the winds carry me back for good.