Greetings to those of you still reading this! So I left Chicago almost two weeks ago and it still seems surreal to be back in Cresco and visiting Luther. As I have spent the past two weeks at “home,” it has begun to make me question what it really means to “go home.” What does it mean to call a place home?
Bon Jovi says home is the “only one place they call me one of their own.” Robert Frost calls home “the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Chris Daughtry sings about home being the “the place where I belong, And where your love has always been enough for me.” Nancy Regan shares that “I have been very happy with my homes, but homes really are no more than the people who live in them.”Dictionary.com defines home as “a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household or the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.” Somebody once told me that home is where the majority of your underwear is.
As I reflect on the past semester, I find that I have varying definitions of home. Some part of what home is will always be where my family is because it is the place I know I will always be loved. They are the people who know me better than anybody.
Yet, I find that even though I am home, I am also ready to go home. Go back to Chicago. So what was it that made Chicago feel like home? Chicago was home because it was there I felt alive and free. In Chicago I felt empowered to explore and make my life what I wanted it to be. The situations I encountered on a daily basis challenged me and made me grow. As I built a relationship with the city, I also built relationships, some with new people and some with people I had known but never had a relationship. All these things made Chicago a place that, as I became comfortable, I began to thrive, only to find my time ending so I had to prepare to head back to my small town.
It makes me think of the following quote I found as I searched for a definition of home that matches the place I am now: “When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home”
So now I sit at home, awaiting my next adventure
