Blog Challenge Day 2: Home is where the...

Google's street view of my house (well my mom's house I guess I should say)

Wait. At this point in my life, I feel like the expression should read "home is where?"

I went and did it again. I moved across the country and set up shop in a new place. Now as I have before, I feel the tug between here and the "home" where I grew up. The last time this happened, I was 18, a recent high school graduate and ready to take on the adventure of college. Instead of "adventuring" somewhere within driving distance, I figured I'd go as far as I possibly could from my home. (OK, this wasn't my intention however my "dream college" happened to be just outside of Los Angeles, California.) My freshman year was fun and exciting. I met a lot of people from all over the country. I made some friends and was able to travel most of the west coast being lucky enough to make my way from San Fransisco all the way to Ensenada, Mexico. Although I was enjoying my adventures "on my own," I missed home dreadfully. I had gone and fallen in love the summer after my senior year and being so far away from him was so difficult (Luckily I've since married him so we should never be that far apart ever again!) I missed my family, high school (life-long) friends and the east coast. The west coast is fun and exciting but with all its flair, it loses its homey-ness. This is the way I felt anyway. I loved being there but never felt at home.

I ended up having to move home and transfer to a more local college and although it was nice to be home, I really did miss what I had left in California. I had come to terms and gotten used to the idea of living at home again when I had to travel back to L.A. right before school was set to start because 1) I had bought a round trip ticket the previous spring and 2) I had to pack up the stuff I had left in a storage unit to ship home. When I got there, all my friends were moving into their dorms and getting ready to begin classes. I so badly wanted to be there that I went to the financial aid office and pleaded with them to find a way for me to stay but unfortunately it was not possible. I never expected to feel the way I did upon returning. I had known for most of the summer that I was not returning to that school but once I was there, I felt such a desire to stay.

Over the course of the next few years, I slowly stopped missing my west coast experience. I fell out of touch with friends as everyone moved on with their lives. I had moved on as well and had created another new life for myself at the university I attended in Connecticut.

When I finally graduated, the downturn of the economy was just beginning. Suddenly there were no jobs in CT, so I my best option seemed to be to go back to Orlando, FL where I had done an "internship" during college. As much as I enjoyed being in my home state, the prospect of starting a career and another new adventure got to me again. So I convinced the boy to come with me this time and we left on our adventure. Well, since recessions don't leave much room for adventuring, things were not as we expected. After dealing with about a year of difficulty in trying to find permanent work, we thought maybe it was time to move back home. But (of course) a job opportunity presented itself here that we could not pass up. It has been a few years now and we've started to feel at home here.

Now I am stuck yet again. We are not in the position to move for another couple years but have begun talking about where we want to make our future especially if we start a family. I have gone and made friends and created some semblance of a life here but still feel so strongly tied to where I grew up. I hate being to far away but I don't know if I'd be happier moving back home.

Which brings me back to where I started...

Home is where?

Thanks for reading.

BC2-7/31