Home is different for everyone, and is found in a plethora of places and people.

When asked the question, “Where is home for you?” I never quite know what to respond, because home for me, is in SO many different places.

“Home is where the heart is.”

A quote found in multiple places in my home with my parents, and it could not be more true. The most wondrous part about that however, is that you can have you heart in SO many places.

I have lived in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington. I have left my heart in my home country of the Dominican Republic, with the little children of Grand Goave, Haiti, at Disneyland in California, on the beautiful beach of Prince Edward Island, in the homestead of my family in New Brunswick, in the history and beauty of my city: Boston and so many more. I find home in so many people: my parents, my siblings, my childhood best friends, the members of my church at home, my teachers in high school, my high school best friends, my current friends, my professors, my boyfriend and so many more…

Even just little things that make home so glorious: Pheasant Lane Mall on the NH/MA border where I spent so much time as a teen. Nashua Christian Academy where I went to high school. My New Hampshire backyard where my three little goats live. Any Dunkin Donuts. Exit 24 on Route 93 in New Hampshire where I always would meet my grandparents. Educare Daycare Center in NH where my precious little students are. My friend’s beach house in Maine where some great memories are kept. The house my grandparents lived in before they passed away in Northern Vermont. Faneuil Hall in Boston where the best cannoli’s are found. Logan Airport, SeaTac Airport, Pasco Airport. My apartment in little College Place, WA. The dorm at Walla Walla University. The studio at Positive Life Radio. The second floor of the Admin building where the English department finds itself. Palouse Falls. My boyfriend’s house in Richland, WA. Dutch Bros in Walla Walla.

I don’t like the idea that home is where you were born. I dislike the notion that home is only where your parents live. I reject the idea that home is where you currently reside. I hate the idea that you have yet to find your home. I hate the idea that home is any ONE place.

One thing that all of the aforementioned places have in common is that in some way – they have all shaped my life in one way or another and the experiences had in each place have made me into the person I am today.

Home is like your DNA. It’s complex, it makes you different from everyone else in one way or another. More importantly, it makes up who you are as a person.

Home is no one place. Home is a place you went or lived that made you inexpressibly happy. It is a person you loved deeply. It is a plethora of places you went where you left a small piece of your heart.

And the best part is – you can always go home. Especially if you are willing to create new homes for yourself.

So go home today – find one of those places where you are happy, wherever that may be.

And don’t stay there too long, because you never know what home awaits you right around the corner. It might be better than you think!

Home is no one place.