From Home to Home to Home

I'm home in Indiana from my DePauw University fall break, which I spent at home in Colorado. So I've gone yet again from home to home to home.  My whole week in Colorado I kept marveling at how I ever could have managed to tear myself away from golden autumn trees, hikes on the South Shanahan trails with my friend Rowan, cultural outings in Denver, lunches and teas with dear friends, literary conversations with my writing group, hymn sings with my church family, precious time with my boys. Oh, if only I never had to go back to Indiana! If only I didn't have a full eight-and-a-half months left to go before I return permanently to my life in Colorado!

And then I woke up this morning in Indiana, and the trees here are equally beautiful, with more shades of red and orange in the autumnal palette, as opposed to Colorado's gold, gold, gold.  My children's literature students came as early to class as I did, so eager for our first discussion of Harry Potter, the books of all books that most structured their childhood as readers. At lunch I attended a fascinating lecture by Dr. Emilie Savage-Smith, professor emerita of Oxford University, on myths about the medieval world. Here are some wrong things many if not most people believe about this widely misunderstood period of human history:

1. Medieval people stayed close to home and seldom traveled.
2. Medieval people were thought to be old at the age of 30 or 40.
3. Medieval people were quite short.
4. Medieval people believe the world was flat.
5. Medieval people had a very low level of literacy.
And more! I have to confess I believed most of these and am glad to be disabused of my ignorance.

Now I'm in my lovely office in Asbury Hall, awaiting an appointment with the wonderful student whose Honor Scholar thesis I'm advising - and then I'll go out to my lovely office at the Prindle Institute to catch up with friends and colleagues there. Tonight I might connect with another friend for dinner at the Dairy Castle, which closes for the season at the end of the month. Thank goodness I have eight-and-a-half months left before I have to resume my life in Colorado! No, thank goodness I have eight-and-half-months left before I get to resume my life in Colorado! Thank goodness that right now I have not one but two places that I love - loving each one, while I'm living in it, with my whole heart.