The World Is Lesser When You Leave

I usually adore the summer as I find so much joy in enjoying the outdoors, spending time at the pool, and having more time with friends, sitting on porches and talking about life, grilling out, going to amusement parks and just generally enjoying a fuller, richer kind of life surrounded by people I love a whole lot. This has been a different kind of summer for me as I feel like I've spent the vast majority of it alone. I've missed Kenny, I've missed Julie, I've missed Ashley, I've missed Cameron, I've missed Lindsey, I've missed Jen: all of the people that make Nashville really feel like home to me. It's funny how I usually enjoy solitude when I feel like I have some stolen moments away from the whole world. But I have found over the past few months that those moments lose their splendor when they are not sandwiched within the joy of community. I understand why we are not islands, why we were made to live in fellowship with one another, and why we were made to learn from and with our friends. I've had a hard week, made harder by the fact that I don't feel like there is a release from it, when I can be with people that really know and love me, with whom I can be honest when my life is less than perfect and who will love me, not in spite of, but maybe even because of my shortcomings. So hurry home, sweet friends. Know that you leave a great void and that I am eager to celebrate the joy I find in all of you.