Since the fall of 2012, I have attended Milligan College in Tennessee. Before then, I grew up in Southern Minnesota. In addition to these two places, there are many other places I have spent time during my life—camps I attended, my family's cabin, churches I've worked at, cities where I've traveled to and places I visited once and fell in love with. All of these places are special to me, places I want to visit again, places I can call home for many reasons, but these places are not home.
Home is not a place.
I have my home in Minnesota, my home in Tennessee, my home in New Hampshire, my new home in North Carolina and my home at countless places in between. I feel at home at these places for many reasons: the beauty of the place I am at, being comfortable driving and being around, some of the perks of living in an area, but it isn't because of the location. All these comforts are nice—but take them away and I will still feel at home at these places.
Home is a feeling.
Home is not based on where I am, because as humans, we can turn any place we are at into home. This means home is a feeling and what makes home a feeling is not the things we are surrounded with. Home is the feeling of being welcomed, loved and able to let your guard down. This is why home is not a place, but a feeling.
Home is the people you surround yourself with.
The people I've met made me feel at home. They loved me, welcomed me in and allowed me to put my guard down; they made me feel at home. Even when I am at a place for the first time or someplace I've spent 20 years at, it is ultimately the people who make a place home to me.
This is one of the big lessons I learned in college. No matter where I move, I will always be home as long as I surround myself with people who love me and make me feel at home. You see, home can be anywhere—even in the ugliest of places, we can experience home when we are surrounded by people who love us.
Home is not a place; home is the people you surround yourself with, the people you do life with, the people you learn from.
When people call you up late at night to leave and get milkshakes, that is home.
When people spend all day with you in the library studying for finals so you both won't lose your sanity, that is home.
When you cry saying goodbye to friends because both of you have had such an impact on each other, that is home.
When someone asks you to be a part of their wedding because it means a lot for you to be there, that is home.
When people know exactly what we need in order to feel loved, that is home.
When people know you have had a rough day and know exactly how to cheer you up, that is home.
When people invite you to game night half an hour before it starts not knowing if you'll be able to come or not, that is home.
When you are nowhere to be found and people come looking for you, that is home.
When it doesn't matter what you do or where you go as long as you are with the people you love, that is home.
As I leave one place that is my home and move to a new home, I remember this:
No matter where I am, home can be found, not in the place I dwell, but in the people I dwell with.
