No matter where you go, no matter what you read, no matter what kind of music you listen to, people will always sing their praises about "home." Many believe their home is a physical house, others choose to think of a point on a map, and some think of their loved ones when asked the question: "Where is home?"

Personally, my "home" is a combination of the three. I have my room in the house that I've lived with my parents in for the past 16 years of my life. I don't really remember much from the "old house," so the beige raised-ranch sporting forest green accents and the apple trees in the front yard is the image that pops into my mind at the mention of "going home."

But, my home is not just the house. It's the place where my house is comfortably nestled into. I've lived in Maine my entire life, so no matter where I end up, I'll always be a Maine girl at heart. It's funny, when I was picking a college, it was appealing to me if schools were out of state. Don't get me wrong, I think that it is a great experience for me to go to school somewhere new, as I'm beginning new chapters in my life. But I still remember the first thing I thought of when I stepped out of my car when returning home from school for the first time on Thanksgiving break: "The air smells so much cleaner here." After living in a state with so much natural beauty and constant fresh breezes, the stagnant air of the city of Worcester was foreign to me. It's odd what things you miss the most when you leave the place that you've grown up in.

The people from my "home" are the key piece of the puzzle. If I came back to my house and my parents and friends were not around, it would feel wrong. It would feel like I had a puzzle laid out in front of me on the table, almost complete, except that one piece is missing. And I mean, really missing. Like, tore-apart-the-couch-and-was-on-my-stomach-laying-on-the-ground-searching missing. At that point, obsessing over the missing piece would have consumed my entire day.

My family is spread out across the map (as in New York plus Canada plus Northern Ireland), so I'm used to intimate family time with just my parents and I. Being at school was odd because there was no private time in a dorm. That doesn't exist. Instead of being an only child and two parents in a house, there were rooms upon rooms of college kids spilling into the halls and common areas. Talk about having your world turned upside-down. In any case, you can probably imagine the relief that I felt when I came back to peace and quiet with just my parents and I.

I'm lucky enough to have a tight group of friends from home; some of them I've known almost my entire life, and some I met in high school and have been close with ever since. Either way, I couldn't imagine this place without them. I mean, for all of the huge things I've gone through in life, my friends and family have been there.

As summer is coming to an end and I'll have to go back to school in a few weeks, I've been thinking about home a lot more. The first time I left, I was very excited but also a bit heartbroken. I was the first to move into school out of my friends, and it was scary having to be the first one to go. When I leave this time, I think I'll feel different. I won't be scared to leave because I know that everyone will be there for me where it matters. I used to think that leaving home meant the dynamic of things would change completely — yet when I came back I was as comfortable as ever. I feel closer with a lot of my friends from home than I had before. I think that part of that comes from the fact that we all have separate lives now, yet we still stay connected enough to be close. And that's special to me. I'm so grateful for the memories I've been able to create with those close to me this summer alone.

Here's to the summer of 2016, the summer of "home."

Here's to the beach vacations, weekend getaways, ice-cream treats, shopping trips, sleeping bags, bonfires and s'mores.

To my house, to my state, to my family. You are all home to me, and you always will be.

This is a thank you to home.