When you turn 18 your home usually changes. From where you grew up to the college you attend. Within that period of time, you may live elsewhere during the summers as well. For me, I am slowly getting content with where I am at in life, physically. I seem to move around a lot, but I have learned it's not about where I am but instead about who I am with.
Home. That is a word I've been pondering over all summer long. Where is home? Is it the place I grew up at with my parents for 18 years of my life but only go there 4-5 times a year now for short periods of time. Or is it college where I live for 9 months out of the year but know in two years I won't be living there anymore. Maybe it's where I am staying for the summer? For the first month of summer I was at one place and now I am at a different place, but really am only here for a few hours at night then there to sleep and sometimes on the weekends. All summer for 9-10 hours of my day I am at the house where I nanny which I also would call home. So after going through all of these places, I sit here in the thought of; where is home? In one way or another, I have called every single one of them home. Within the past three months, I have lived at five different places, and my heart lives within each one of them.
Not only do I think about the places I have been this summer I also reflect on the past summers and where I have lived. Half of last summer I spent at Big Sandy Camp, which I would without a doubt say was home to me and a piece of my heart will always be at camp.
Maybe home isn't one single spot, maybe it's not a location but it lies within the people we meet and grow to love and cherish. One quote I found on Pinterest says, "You will never be completely at home again because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."
"You will never be completely at home again." I ponder on this because I have felt like "home" isn't really much of a term I can directly use to one specific place. I have mainly felt this way since college started. So then I think forward to when I graduate and where I will be - I am unsure at the moment but I know it won't be in one set spot for the rest of my life.
"Because your heart will always be elsewhere." YES. This is 100% true. When I am at school my heart is on campus or at my house where my family is, or even sometimes, where I will be in the future. But then when it is summer and I am wherever I may be, I think about school and the home that I have made there. My heart seems to be in a million places at once and I've come to be at peace with that.
"Richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place." All the people I have met throughout this journey of life have played some sort of role and have been scattered not only in Minnesota but across the United States and even a few different countries. Within my heart lies every single one of them. Some people come and go just like the places I live changes quite often, but my heart still holds the memories in those places and with those people.
I've come to be at peace with the fact that "home" isn't just one place anymore. Instead, it is multiple places at once because to me it's not the place that really matters but the people that my heart holds on tight to from those places. When I miss a place it is because I miss the memories and the people there. And that's okay. We were made to explore, build a sense of community and make memories.
Home. It is the people, not the place that truly matters.
