Home is where the. . .where is home?

Try to define the word "home". Go ahead. I'll wait. . . . . .have your definition? Does it include something about feeling comfortable & relaxed, a place of love, where you spend the night? I'm not really sure where my home is these days. Sounds crazy? Not really, ask anyone that knows me, I've said crazier and made more sense doing it. Sound crazy? Seriously, I could do this all day.

Home: a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household I realize that there is a very cute house with a cute porch with equally cute rocking chairs on that porch that holds a lot of my stuff. (or crap as my mom lovingly calls it because, let's face it, I simply can't throw away that pencil I bought at the Alamo during spring break my sophomore year in college.) But there is also a very white, very plain storage unit that is doing the same thing (holding my fans, summer clothes, "fun" glasses & more crap.) M&D and mostly my puppies (past & future) make me feel at home. (DUH, I know this is my home. Please no hate mail about how I'm unappreciate of my parents' sacrifices. But a girl has to fill a double blog entry somehow rambling about something!)

Home: The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted But where is home, really? As the work load ramps up and as the school year marches on, I am spending more and more time in locations where I can work on both. For 9 hours a day I am just beyond the walls of "The Berm". That is more than a third of my day and half of my waking life. That's a heck of a lot of time! Good thing I love my co-workers. We eat together, sing together, laugh together, throw squishy stress balls and not-so-soft-soccer balls at each other. We have an authority figure making sure we don't get into trouble, we have to play nicely together, we even get bills and paychecks delivered to us every day. I can eat 3 meals here if I wanted. I can do my laundry here if I wanted. I can work out, get a perm, repair a broken nail, and shower here. Sounds like a home to me! The Crack Team of Rejects have welcomed me into their home.

Home: where you live at a particular time Then there's school - which is kind of like a stereotypical divorced family setting in a Lifetime or Oxygen movie. You have the library & the classroom. The library would be like mom's house where you spend most of your time. It's always warm. People are always very friendly & willing to help you find whatever you need. There's big oversize cozy chairs, The classroom is dad's pad. You're not there very long at all - only a couple hours a week. The furniture is old & ugly, you don't know any of the other kids, it's hard to be there because you don't understand anything that the guy's teaching you (he's old & doesn't get you at all). And you're basically thrilled when you get out of there because you'd rather be anywhere than in there. Looks like I split my time between 2 homes.

Home: (in games) the destination or goal: Ever tried to run 26.2 miles in one straight shot? Yeah, I didn't think so. Only the coolest of cool and the strongest of strong have done it. (which is quite ironic because I am neither cool nor strong.) If you ever do try - and I HIGHLY suggest that you do - you will be spending a lot of time on deserted backroads and congested city streets. Lots of gravel, lots of grass, lots of bike lanes and lots of shout outs to my guardian angel for his/her protection from semis & snakes. I used to think there was nothing better than riding my bicycle just after the sun came up on the weekends and the cows were the only other creatures awake. Now that I firmly hate bicycles and the danger the present to everyday people, I can say there's nothing better than running under the same circumstances. I love having the house to myself in the mornings.

Heaven: a place or state of supreme happiness Or what about that place that you spend the least amount of time but it's the place you feel most alive? What if there's a certain room, location, building that makes you feel that the REAL you is coming out? Or what if the location isn't important but the people that surround you are? Is it the E-pod? Brick room? Or the zoo because you're with the same people - especially The One VIP - that are always with you in the E-pod & Brick Room? Yes, I go home every Sunday morning. It's quite possibly my favorite home. (if only we could can the dang A.C. to work!) I travel with my family members: B & K. Heck, even I have kids in this home!

To quote the song whose lyrics I have taped up on my computer screen to keep me in check at at work:

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.