Last Tuesday, I trekked 19 hours up 1-75 to get to a place that has long been pulling at my heartstrings ever since I left it.

I’ve spent countless hours daydreaming, wishing, waiting, hoping, and praying that someday I would return after feeling so lost and misplaced for so many years.

I can finally say that now, after spending the past week in my favorite place in the whole entire world, I finally feel fulfilled and settled for once and for all with my past and inner spirit.

Home is a place that can’t be replaced. No matter where you go or what you do when you’re away from it, every time you come back it feels just right and you honestly can’t explain that to somebody who doesn’t know.

It’s not just somewhere you go when you are missing the good times, or the scenic views or familiar sounds that are associated with it.

It’s a feeling that comes from doing and being alive in all those moments you spent there that make it truly home once and for all.

It hasn’t been easy for me to go back and revisit some places in town that I thought I would never leave.

I’ve cried many times, shouted in my car at the world, and gazed out the window wondering if it all is a dream or I’m actually here.

Because home isn’t home without the people, views, and memories that revolve around it.

And while all of my friends that I have grown up with have left and moved on with their lives, I can now know that the memories that I thought faded have come back.

I might not have the friends I grew up to know, but nevertheless are new ones to come in and help welcome me back home.

And life lives on again another day.

Even better than before.