Walk right in,
sit right down,
Baby let your hair hang down, oh yeah.
Back home!
One thing out of a million things that I look forward to when coming home is the drive down the lane to my parent's home. The ever-changing rice fields, the pomegranate tree, the walk to the front door, the smell of home, the decor my mother has added for the season, and then my mother's embrace.
Home. Catching up with my brothers, sister in laws, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and especially my nieces and nephews. My brother Mat picked me up at the airport, he drove three hours and then three hours again. That is love.
Home for one month. Where every single moment counts as one hundred years. I plan to soak up every drop.
If you happen to be in Willows please let me know, I would enjoy meeting you.
I'm also going home on Monday -- to see my mom. I am looking forward to seeing the family and good friends and hope to spend many memorable hours with my mother.
Posted by: kim | 26 October 2012 at 12:19 PM
Have a wonderful time! Wish I were there, but am on the other coast...:) if you ever land in NY let us east coasters know...:)
Posted by: Maria | 26 October 2012 at 12:49 PM
My husband is at my parents' house right now. I'm so jealous, cause he's waking up to the smell of coffee, sitting around the pool, soaking in the sun. I'm getting a kid off to school.
Hope your stay is fabulous.
Posted by: Paulita | 26 October 2012 at 01:10 PM
Enjoy your precious time with your family. It is always nice to go to a homecoming.
Lille
Posted by: Everything French | 26 October 2012 at 01:13 PM
I know you will cherish every second - something I have gotten better at since reading your blog. Have a great time!
PS. One day will you tell how you get over jet lag?!?
Posted by: Debra | 26 October 2012 at 03:15 PM
Glad you are safe and sound. Isn't it amazing how home "smells?" You can be blindfolded, and just the smell will tell you where you are. Enjoy your family.
Posted by: Tracy | 26 October 2012 at 03:24 PM
Savour every moment and just enjoy being with the people you love and who love you. Looking forward to your stories from home.
P.S. Corey, I know you speak English and French and your children are bilingual. I am participating in a blogger challenge promoting language learning. The participants have been asked to argue “ What is the most important benefit of learning another language: Traveling experiences, Career, Love life or Brain power?”. If you would like to read why I think speaking more than one language is great, please visit my post and, perhaps vote for me, if you like my article:
http://polonicahomeagain.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-benefits-of-learning-languages.html .
Thank you! :-)
Posted by: Zosia | 26 October 2012 at 04:02 PM
Welcome home Corey. This is a splendid time of year in California. I'm just home from 2 weeks in France, where I listened to the mistrals banging the shutters, ate mounds of wonderful food and found my very own treasures at brocantes. I thought about you and your hunting a lot. What a charmed life you live to do that all the time.
Posted by: Laura McHugh | 26 October 2012 at 04:27 PM
Welcome home! I love reading about the adventures in your "other home."
Posted by: Amy Kortuem | 26 October 2012 at 04:40 PM
So nice to read that someone good has such a wonderful family experience. I'm truly glad for you, Corey.
Posted by: Shelley Noble | 26 October 2012 at 05:01 PM
Welcome to the US. Wish I lived closer, I would come and sit a spell and have a nice hot cup of coffee with you. Saving money for next spring!
Posted by: Sharon Penney-Morrison | 26 October 2012 at 05:11 PM
OKAY I"M COMING!!!!!!!!!!!Just to say hello!I will figure out when and get back to you!When will you be down south for THE TALK!??
Posted by: La Contessa | 26 October 2012 at 05:21 PM
You jogged my memory with that great song "Walk Right In." Apparently it came out in 1963. I know you will have a wonderful time in Willows.
Posted by: Diogenes | 26 October 2012 at 06:54 PM
Have fun "Aunt Coco", plenty of munchkins to keep you busy.
Posted by: Jenna | 26 October 2012 at 07:12 PM
i am happy for everyone!enjoy!
Posted by: g | 26 October 2012 at 10:49 PM
Cherish every moment, as I know you will. Have fun! I hope you participate in the costume making for Halloween. :)
Posted by: Jeannie | 26 October 2012 at 11:43 PM
For sure soak it up and enjoy every second.
Welcome Home!
Posted by: Marilyn | 27 October 2012 at 01:40 AM
Welcome home! I would love to meet your mom and see her garden, but I don't think I'll be able to get to Willows this time. If you come to Marin, let's get together! Have fun with all your beautiful nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and brothers and your mom!
Posted by: LIl aka Claudia | 27 October 2012 at 02:51 AM
Welcome back to the U.S.
Posted by: kelleyn | 27 October 2012 at 03:18 AM
Oh happy day! Being with family is the best. I am so happy you are home and visiting. I made my flight plans to fly home for Thanksgiving! I'm so excited I could.....well, you get the picture.
Enjoy enjoy enjoy!
Posted by: Rhonda | 27 October 2012 at 04:02 AM
Welcome home Corey!!! Gorgeous post!!
Cheers, Heather
Posted by: Heather Lindstrom | 27 October 2012 at 05:32 AM
Welcome Home Corey
I know how you feel...I am from a small town as well
Posted by: cindy | 27 October 2012 at 06:31 AM
Welcome home! + I know your family is excited to see you + adored hearing about that brotherly love. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Posted by: peggy braswell | 27 October 2012 at 05:07 PM
Your post puts me in mind of Josephine Baker's "J'ai Deux Amours." I also have deux amours, mon pays et la France.
Posted by: Andrea | 27 October 2012 at 07:42 PM
Always enjoy your adventures in France AND in California, back in Willows. Will you be attending any Sunday flea markets with your mother while here?
Posted by: Casual Cottage Chic | 28 October 2012 at 06:47 PM
Welcome back to California, Corey!
Does this mean that you will be sitting around the Thanksgiving table again with your family? I remember how special it was for you last year.
I know you're going to enjoy every minute and look forward to hearing about your wonderful family and adventures.
Such beautiful Fall pictures!
Posted by: Carol | 29 October 2012 at 04:37 AM
I would love to tell you I'm in Willows... and to meet you by a rice field, under a pomegranate tree or behind a pumpkin...
BUT I am now playing the couch potato in my own home... imagining you and your mum embracing lovingly ...
Posted by: Marie-Noëlle | 29 October 2012 at 10:12 AM
I'm forever torn apart - my heart is in Switzerland and my body elsewhere (mostly). Back from a choral week in Switzie - unforgettable, soul- and heart-filling with singing, music, talks, laughter and glorious Swiss landscapes. Many hugs, kisses, tears, seeing some of our families - missing others....
Hero Husband said once: Je me sens déracinné (he feels uprooted) - HE didn't know any longer where he really belonged. I have space for both - but I'm very much looking forward to going back home (once we've sold our house) and I hope that all my future travels will be just that... travels, hols, trips, excursions - no longer years and years away from Switzerland. But this we don't know.
Have a lovely stay at HOME - our hearts are much bigger than we think and all your beloved ones from the States also find their place in it when you're in France. And you know it!!!!
Posted by: Kiki | 30 October 2012 at 09:52 AM