lessons of the week

• Extra Hot Rotel is not an acceptable substitute for salsa. Though it may be suitable if you have misplaced your neti pot.

• If you ever need help fast, call a friend, not the police department. Arrival time of Jason, Katie, Bryan, Ruth, & Cara: 8 minutes. Arrival time of Chattanooga's finest: 30 minutes. The PD's number will go into my phone, but the others just got promoted to speed dial.

• The first few months of marriage aren't pie in the sky by and by. Those comments of "Oh, it'll all be glorious for a while, then reality will come crashing in" can be ignored. Reality has no grace period.

• "Home" is a completely different concept to different people, even different generations. My grandmother's generation lived much more permanently than mine or even my parents'. Home to her is the specific house she shared with my grandfather for so many years, and she is grieving over the leaving of simple things like azaleas and forsythia bushes. My mother's ideal home is one with her children living nearby. And I'm just longing for a home with a little bit of stability, one that can keep me and my husband in the same place for more than a few days at a time. Really though, I think we're all yearning for the same thing. We were created for a better Home.