I am back home after two weekends of travel. And I have another three days coming up in the next week where I will be away from home yet again. These first two events – the ADF Imbolc Retreat and the 2017 Pantheacon – were just plain awesome times where I got the chance to reconnect with people that I consider to be a wider aspect of my tribe, as well as excellent opportunities to meet people I have only had the chance to have discourse with via online.

But I will be honest. By mid-day on Sunday, I was missing home. So much so, that I literally spent most of the afternoon in my hotel room. See, I’m an introvert by nature. And sometimes there’s just too many people to process, such as a large event like Pantheacon. I wind up just needing to get away from folks for a short while. But that’s not the entire aspect for me. I missed my little stone circle in the backyard.

When I get off work this evening, I walked into the backyard right after I pulled into the driveway. Its my primary way to get into the house, as I use a backdoor key to get in via the porch. But I have to walk directly past my stone circle. And this evening, it was the first time I had seen it since I had landed the previous night. I dropped my shoulder bag on the sidewalk, and immediately walked around the circle in my work clothes. I took in every stone I had placed in it, feeling the extension of each rock’s ripple into the immediate world around it. I let each ripple encompass me as I walked slowly part each one. I looked into the center where my small resin statue of Kokopelli stands, next to another large stone I have added in the last few weeks. And I felt how comfortable I was with the feeling of this. I pulled off my shoes and socks and let my barefeet feel the ground under my feet.

And I paused. Home. I have really missed this little patch of Home. I silently gave thanks to Coyote, Crow and Fliodhas for continuing to show me how nourishing Community can be for the soul. And I thanked Them for showing how important home can be as well.

With another three-day trip just around the corner, I know that my anxiety will be even greater at this conference – a professional one, not Spiritual in nature whatsoever. But I am also at the overflow hotel – not the primary one. This means I can take great care to stay away when I need to….and that I will have a quiet place to write from. And if everything works out well, I may even have some Pagan visitors over those days as well. If not, I will have plenty of time to manage some down-time as well. Perhaps I can get more than just a couple of hours of sleep, like I managed at Pantheacon and ADF Imbolc Retreat both.

Most importantly, was reconnecting with my Stone Circle. Tomorrow, I will spend more time…and provide offerings and thanks for all that I have experienced over these last two weekends. I have definitely missed my little Stone heart-beat in the backyard.