Home

A while back during a get-to-know-you exercise someone asked what bird I felt I most identified with. I thought for a moment and replied, “A pigeon, because they have brightly colored hair (mine at the time was green), thrive in the city and always appear to be dancing.” It wasn’t until years later that I learned the head bobbing is actually how they interpret their surroundings. It was then that I also learned that doves are actually a type of pigeon, the type with better public relations. And I learned that pigeons and I have quite a bit more in common than I originally thought. For starters, and perhaps most obvious, we are both rather big breasted. We are quite communal and love to be around others of our species. We are always searching for and can find our ways home because of our extraordinary sense of direction.

My hometown was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Rita. Since then I have been searching for a home, like a lost dove. I have been looking for it in so many places – in friendships, relationships, church and in my work. Dad once told a documentarian that home is where his family is. I think that maybe what I am waiting for is a place to feel like home. But I don’t know if I will ever find it here on earth. The book of James says I won’t. However, I think home is found in love and I know that God is love and when we love each other, God’s love is made complete in us. So, I think that sometimes I catch glimpses of home in my relationships with my family and friends.

This blog is the story of some of those glimpses of home. I crafted Dove, a pigeon, with the hope that she will travel from friend to friend to friend ad infinitum gathering the stories of fantastic friendships through her journey. Today I sent her off to her first stop, my friend Alli in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bon Voyage, Le Pigeon!