The morning sun can display a variety of colors, especially when combined with a slight mist. These woods are part of the land above our house while the stream is the Little River off Bethlehem Church Road about two miles from our home.

If the promise from the talking heads on the tube is true, we will have real Springtime weather today, complete with sun, calm (for a change) winds and temperatures in the 70s. As luck would have it, I have a head cold. At least I hope it’s only a head cold. Two bouts with the flu this season have left me wary of any virus that includes coughs and a runny nose.

I’ve talked before about our reasons for moving to Floyd County (a homecoming, of sorts, for me). I spent so much time on the road during the first 25 years of our marriage that the actual time we have spent together is far, far less. I promised many times to get off the road and spend more time at home. I broke that promise too many times.

While on the road, morning walks like this one were part of the salvation I sought for spending so much time away from the woman I love. It was during those walks that I vowed, many times, to stop the nomadic life. I kept a tape with an old Kenny Rogers & The First Edition song and would listen to it as I sat in my hotel room on a lonely morning in a far-off place. I’ve quoted from it before but it bears repeating.

When the morning sun streaks across my room
And I’ve waken up from another dream of you
Yes I’m on the road, once again it seems
All I’ve left behind, is a chain of broken dream

How I wish that love, is all we need to live
What a life we’d live, ’cause I’ve got so much to give
And it seems so wrong, deep inside my heart
That the dollar sign could be keeping us apart

And if I could only find my way back to the time
When the problems of this life of mine didn’t cross our minds
All the answers were found in children’s nursery rhymes
I’d come running back to you, I’d come running back to you

But you know we can’t live on dreams alone
Just to pay the rent, I must leave you all alone
But you know I made me choice many years ago
And this traveling life is the only one I know

But you know I love you
Yes I love you, oh… I love you

I think, once again, of those lyrics as I climb the long hill back up to our home. I thought about them when I took the first morning walk the day after we moved into our new home.

On that walk, I vowed — no more trips. No more waking up in the morning and wondering what city or country I’m in.

No more interruptions of life. This time the promise is kept.

And the fruit of that promise is us…and home.