the way home

I have a friend named Korrie, who has fabulous taste in all things, including food (of course), and vintage clothing, and folk music, and rustic dinner plates, and men (we love you, too, Lee), and handkerchiefs, and children's books, and handwritten letters.  She is one of those women who makes womanhood look good, you know the type?  Not to mention I love her to death.  Korrie is one of my all-time faves.

I may have posted this pic before, but I LOVE it.   The funny thing is, I don't even know which of her daughters she is holding.  Clementine, Korrie, am I right?

So...last year Korrie and Lee sent a care package that never got to us.  She later told me that there were VINTAGE APRONS in that box.  I think I almost cried.  She probably did cry, considering the cost of shipping a box to East Asia.  It was the only box, meant for us, that has ever gotten lost.

Last month, Korrie took a deep breath and tried again.  She waited and waited.  She sent me several emails, wondering if I had seen her package.  I had not.  We were both getting worried, thinking it too terrible for TWO of her heartfelt, heartsent packages to have gotten lost.

Last week she let me see the address she has been using.  OH NO!  She had been using our first address in East Asia.  I never sent her our new one!  (They don't use the forwarding system here) Oh, Korrie.
 
Thankfully, we know the girls who moved in to our old apartment.  Before breaking the news to Korrie about the wrong address, I sent Daniel over to those girls.  He knocked on the door, but there was no reply.  The gate keeper said that the foreigners who used to live there had moved to another building, just last month, and he took Daniel right to their door.    They were home, and they had our package!

I danced a little jig when he came home and handed me that padded envelope.  Oh thank you L0RD!  

And now, Daniel has a new favorite T-shirt.  It hails from the part of Kentucky that was the birthplace of our friendship, almost a decade ago.  Niiiiiice find, Korrie!

Ni

And I have a new favorite top!  The girl knows me.

And Brave really loves the basil-scented Mrs. Meyer's aromatherapeutic cruelty-free dryer sheets, "uncomplicated products for a clean and happy home." I cannot wait to try them!  They made everything in the package smell as good as Korrie looks;)

 
Jubilee took her dress very seriously.  Anything that is solely hers makes her serious, like she must now become very responsible about this new thing.  She loves it, Korrie, and it is a perfect fit!

I hope Korrie won't mind me sharing that, in her two-part, handwritten letter, she writes of the small stinging pains of homesickness.  Korrie and Lee and their (now five) kiddos recently moved from their old Kentucky home to the suburbs/urbs of Shreveport, Louisiana, far away from the hills and horse pastures and stone fences of their homeland.  They are among wonderful friends, and blessed with a great job for Lee, and a great community, but leaving home is never easy.  I can certainly relate to that, especially this time of year, when my heart burns a little in my chest thinking of the rest of you enjoying colorful foliage and apple cider and hay wagons and tailgating, and your families.

So you see, there was something deeply sweet about this package making its way into our hands.  Across all the miles and through the hands of lots of shady postal workers and in spite of being posted to the wrong address (totally my fault), this package made its way, eventually, finally, and only a little bit battered - home.

And so will we, Korrie.  One day, my lovely friend, so will we.