HOME.

Home to me is an actual place on a map; where I was born and raised and where the sweetest of memories were made. For a while, it was strange coming home because I had changed but home hadn’t; it was like going back in time but as a different person. Recently, the place I call home has had quite a few changes; I had to literally sit and think about how to get to the most familiar places because it seems all things had changed. Traffic patterns, empty fields turned office buildings and houses, old businesses be have been replaced with the latest and greatest businesses. All of the change at home makes me uneasy and sad but I still had that touch of nostalgia because the things and places that actually stayed the same gave me hope that no matter where I go in life, home will always be there and so will the memories.

Home hits different when you bring your kids. I went out into the big scary world, found a slice of peace with someone and created the most beautiful babies. Taking those babies back to where it all started for me meant everything. When they were fresh babies, I took them but now they are at an age where they understand and curiosity is their pilot. It’s amazing feeling. Home isn’t quite what I envisioned it would be when I returned with my own family because life always happens to everyone but those buildings and places that have been untouched are reminders. Reminder that life will always happen and some parts of Home can withstand and remain. I was flooded with a mountain of memories at every turn, every light, and every street.

People are also home to me; that notion hit me while Home and it was so comforting to know that certain people do just that for me – make me feel HOME. HOME is where people know your name, know you, and love you still the same. Memories, places, sounds, smells, that’s all home when you’re with the right people in the right place.

My childhood home is no longer ours, another family is making memories in it now; although I hadn’t actually lived in that home for 15 years now, it was still HOME every single time I pulled in front of that house. When my parents sold it, I was devastated but life did as life never fails to do, it lifes and sometimes it doesn’t feel good. I griefed so many memories; if walls could talk! I griefed for, at that time my future children, never seeing where their Mama’s roots were started.

Yes, bringing my kids back to the place that I will forever call HOME looks different than I ever imagined, there is still magic in those moments. Life has a way of not turning out how you wanted but exactly as you needed.