It's just a few days until I hit the road. I leave in four days. I have four short little days to pack and say goodbyes to my family. Four days to tie up loose ends. Four days to soak in the sights, sounds and smells of home, the roosters crowing in the cool mornings, the grass resonating with the August songs of crickets and grasshoppers. Pakcing is a process of putting things into boxes, of tying them up and putting them into bags and bundles. But I'm not just packing up my belonings, I"m tying up the loose ends of myself. I'm bundling up and storing away images and memories of home. I'm sticking them back in a safe place in my mind, to be taken out and dusted off when need be, to remind myself of who I am and what I'm about. I'm going to miss the smell of fresh turned earth in spring, the bright fields of yellow-haloed sunflowers expectantly facing eastward, the way the sunset turns wheat fields to soft gold. I'm going to miss the sunrise painting the lake ripples waxey pink and navy blue. I'm going to miss the quiet.