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Today, we brought our daughter home from the University of Minnesota. The U of M is one of my favorite places in the world, if not my favorite. It’s the place I think of as home: I was an undergraduate there, met the love of my life there, spent two years in graduate school there, and made friends from all over the world.
We brought our daughter back to our home in St. Cloud, MN. It’s always hard on me to do this as I feel that living in St Cloud is like living in exile. That is, I want to live in the Twin Cities and take advantage of all that the U of M, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the entire metro area have to offer. Yes, it’s only a 1 to 1.5 hour drive one way, but when it’s bad weather or bad traffic it’s easily 2 hours each way. I can see it, hear it, read about it, almost feel it, but it’s just out of reach.
Moses brought the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, across the desert, and to the Promised Land. Yet God didn’t let Moses lead the people into the Promised Land himself. God let him see it, but he couldn’t go there.
I have a great job, a great family and a good life. I’m no prophet, but there are days where I feel like Moses on Mount Pisgah, looking down on the Promised Land but unable to go there. It might have been better not to come back.