Author Archives: Mecca Trueblood

Hometown

I grew up in a medium size farm town….and I remember, I was ready to get out of there!

I had conversations with both of my kids this week about how they don’t really have a connection to THIS town. And it made me a little sad. Aren’t they supposed to love their home town? I mean, we tried so hard to give them roots, a place to be connected. I didn’t realize how little they connected with the place we’ve called home for so long.

My dad was transferred when I was 16. From Lubbock to Houston. At 16! I went from driving on farm roads to driving in big city traffic. I got lost my first time out alone and ended up in a funeral procession….on I-45…on the other side of Houston! It was traumatic!

And I LOVED going back home…where my friends were, where my grandparents were, where I knew who I was supposed to be and how to get there, figuratively and literally. Lubbock had these amber colored lights all the way around the loop (that’s a small town term for a big circle to drive around town not through town on). At night, flying in, it was this big amber circle shining in the vast darkness of the plains. It meant you could see HOME from a long way out. And it felt good to ‘come home’. I haven’t lived there since ’76, but it’s still “home” in my mind. It’s where my roots are…part of what made me who I am. My home town.

Maybe that’s the problem. That was my home town AND it was HOME. But those are different. HOME was my grandparents’ house. HOME is where Fred is. HOME is where I’m connected. Not a city…but a place of my heart.

I guess I needed to have that conversation…about the city. So I can be grateful that they come HOME to see me…I thought there was a lesson maybe that I failed to teach them…But perhaps it was a lesson I needed to learn myself. HOME is different from hown town. One is where you live. The other is where you LOVE. And it doesn’t matter if my kids don’t feel connected to their home town as long as they know where HOME is.

What about you? Do you like your home town? Where’s your HOME?

I <3 Ella

This was a baby shower gift for a co-worker. See how the L’s look like a heart? That’s the beauty of having a daughter who’s a graphic designer. It’s kind of shameful how little time it took her to create the look I wanted. But I think the momma-to-be (who’s going to be a delightful momma!) was happy with the result.

Materials:

  • Simple white frame (you could certainly do this with a old frame laying around and a little white paint and a bit of distressing)
  • A piece of scrapbook paper in a design to coordinate with the nursery
  • An added flower embellishment…
  • Oh yeh, and a daughter to “design” it for you.

I copied the pdf design onto the paper and cut the page to size.

DIY gift frame

 

 

Moss Message

Working on a backyard ‘vignette’. This may turn into a Pinterest fail; we’ll see. But the goal is to ‘paint’ the fence with a saying (Let’s be adventurous) with a moss, buttermilk, beer solution until it grows a mossy message.

Keep you posted!

DIY

Trying to create a design with moss, buttermilk & beer