There’s no place like home…reflections after a visit

I just got back from spending some days back in West St. Paul, Minnesota.  I had been asked to speak at a few gatherings (church youth group, my former professor’s writing class, and a benefit dinner for the youth group).

I’m not very experienced in public speaking, except for a small weekly Bible study for our residents and a college class in the discipline over ten years ago, but I thought I’d better do it when asked.

While I was “home,” I also got the chance to go swimming, something I haven’t done in quite a long time.  We used to go to the city pool very often in the summer when I was growing up, and I love the water!  I had fairly long hair as a girl, and the chlorine took its toll on my prized position at the time (that is, my hair).  My mom had to trim the split ends and cut more than I wanted.

Little did I know at the time that one day my hair would be very short!  Last Thursday, with my short hair, after the fun-filled swim, I didn’t need much shampoo (a short hair cut does have its perks.)

My haircut when I became a novice

Along with the nerve-racking speaking engagements, I also had the chance to see some family and friends, which was nice.  I also saw some former members of the church youth group that I hadn’t run into in years.  It gave me a funny, awkward feeling to come back “home” and to realize that life keeps moving on, with or without me.

I used to know the ages of all my cousins, neighbors, and family friends, what grade they were in, and so forth; now, we are all young adults with lives of our own outside the family environments in which we grew up.  As I’ve moved away and embraced a new life, I’m no longer “up on all the details” as I once was.

Although I am grateful for this time of my “home visit” and very much appreciate the people who made it possible (namely my parents and people who filled in back here), I was also very grateful to come back to St. Anne’s in Grand Forks, which is my new home.

I felt the truth in the common saying, “It’s nice to go, and nice to get back again.”

Sr. Christina M. Neumann, OSF

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