<b>After hiring a car in London and doing my best to drive us a few hours north, we finally arrived at Beaumanor Hall in Woodhouse, Leicestershire. Beaumanor is best known as the home of William Herrick, who happens to be a direct descendant of mine. My grandparents, Richard and Regina Herrick, last visited some 40 years ago when my grandfather was offered the key to the city. There is a certain irony about leaving the only home you have ever known and everything in it only to find a home half a world away and once inhabited by those who dwell in the shadows of my past. There is something interesting about where one comes from. As I gazed at the portraits of 17th and 18th century lords and ladies, I was struck by the resemblance of one man in particular. Strange how certain characteristics, in spite of the watering down of the family line through centuries of marriages, still survive. The ornate detail of the stained glass emblazoned with each of the family’s crests rose high overhead whispering clues to a history long since forgotten. Each carved wooden door and gable window and hallway had been touched by the presence of someone who shared my blood. I watched my son hop on the carpets as the children who would become my great great great grandparents must have done centuries ago and smiled with a great sense of belonging. Strolling through the garden, where I felt most at home, I tried to imagine what the Herrick ladies may have discussed along these same meandering pathways. Did their conversations echo any that my mother or my aunts and I have had? I will never know. What I do know is this: I am currently voluntarily homeless and beginning to accept it. The good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly. Travel is exciting and adventuresome. It is beautiful and amazing. It is a dream come true. And yet, we are only three weeks out and already I have begun to miss “home”. I don’t mean any particular home, but simply the idea of one. It is strange to not have a home, no matter how distant it might be. Wherever it is, was, or will be, it is nice to have one…maybe someday. </b>
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