College is a crazy time in your life. You never live in the same place for more than nine months at a time, and as soon as you get in the routine of your schedule, the semester changes. I refer to college as my "nomadic period." I'm constantly moving from one place to another, and to be quite honest, I absolutely love it. I'm rarely at the place I called "home" for the first 18 years of my life. I'm lucky if I spend more that 24 hours at a time in my hometown.
But, even with the constant coming and going, there is a part of me that longs for the feeling of being "home." It is a perfect peace and feeling of comfort where I am.
Sometimes we realize it in the moment and other times we have to loose it before we realize how much we loved it.
Home can be many things. Ask 100 people what "home" means to them. I'll bet you'll get 100 different answers.
So, here is a list of 25 things that make me feel at "home," in the middle of constant change, chaos, craziness and love.
1. Sitting around the table eating half-apps with your best friends after a concert.
2. Eno-ing in the middle of the woods with a good book.
3. Being able to fall asleep in any bed, as long as you have your favorite pillow.
4. Your dog greeting you at the door when you visit for the weekend.
5. Playing board games and laughing with your friends until two in the morning.
6. Getting on a plane to go to a new place for the first time.
7. Sitting on your favorite bench on campus people watching.
8. Going to a Friday night football game.
9. Seeing your best friend after months and talking for hours like no time has passed.
10. Creating holiday traditions with your college family.
11. Sitting in during a band concert and getting caught up in the music around you.
12. Sitting on the back stairs of your childhood house.
13. Laying outside in the middle of a field stargazing.
14. Being caught up in the middle of your favorite hobby.
15. Driving down a dirt road with the widows down and the music blasting.
16. Walking into the office of your favorite professor after a bad day.
17. Forgetting why the inside joke was funny but laughing anyway.
18. The first time you smell honeysuckles in the spring.
19. Looking through baby pictures with your family.
20. Meeting a new friend for the first time but knowing at the same time that they will be in your life forever.
21. Sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and singing songs.
22. Walking around downtown with no specific place to be.
23. Seeing your best friend say or do something that is "yours" without meaning to, and knowing they picked it up from hanging out with you.
24. Looking out of the back window the last time you drive out of an important place in your life for the last time.
25. Looking out of the front window as you drive into a life unknown but full of many new "homes."
Life is full of so many people, places and circumstances that feel like "home." Home is more that an address. Naguib Mahfouz said "Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease." I believe that. I believe that with every part of my being. Home is the place I run to, even if it's only for a moment. Then it's off to the next adventure: the next "home."
