It Feels Like Home

 Home is my favorite place to be. 

Second, this campus. 

It's funny how home changes as we mature - the neighborhoods that always felt like home in Orange County feel less like home than our current neighborhood, even though the time I spent in OC was a bigger chunk of my life. The memories, the people, the life we've lived in this home is more meaningful, because it's been with my kids and Nick. 

But something about the CSUF campus feels like home. When I'm there, I'm right where I am meant to be. Teaching college students has been the joy of my life over this past year, and I am so grateful that I was able to reignite a passion that brings me purpose and hope, and that is (hopefully) influencing others in a positive way. Sometimes, I'm caught up in how right it feels, and so I'll snap a photo to write about it later. Sure, certain parts of the campus look entirely different than when I was there 20+ years ago as a student, but it's home. 

Another thing about home that I learned over the weekend was how fleeting everything is - how we take for granted the people in our lives, our health, our safety and security. 

What taught me this lesson?

Sweet Gunner.

You all know that Nick's favorite child is a furry little guy named Gunner, our almost-five-year-old labradoodle that is equally sweet and goofy, thinks he's a lap dog even though he's 50+ pounds. He's purebred (no hate from the adopt-only crowd, please), and has been healthy since the day we brought him home in August 2021. 

So, when he woke up on Sunday morning and could not move his hind legs AT ALL, and was dragging the back half of his body across the floor to get to Nick, we both knew something was incredibly wrong. Nick and I rushed him to the emergency vet clinic about 30 minutes away, and were told that they couldn't do much for him aside from pain meds and blood work, but that they strongly recommended we go to a neurology specialist vet in San Marcos (about another 45 minutes away) ASAP because they suspected he had a ruptured disc in his back which would require immediate attention if he had a chance at regaining full mobility. 

On our way to the vet hospital on Sunday

So, here we are 2.5 days later and Gunner is at home resting. He does not have any mobility in his hind legs and is essentially paralyzed right now, but because of the surgery, he has a 90% chance of regaining full mobility, it will just take several weeks to get there. 

I know Gunner agrees with me, that even if home is sometimes chaotic and loud, it's still the best place to be. Whether I'm happy or sad or sick or stressed, home is where I want to be. Please send our pup lots of good vibes and prayers for a quick recovery!