Home has always been hard for me to define. "Where are you from?" is a question that can send me into a tail spin if I allow it. Because in the traditional sense, I am not "from" any place that can be defined. I was born one place, then moved, moved, and moved until I have run out of fingers to count. Home cannot be defined by one singular location for me. Because in fact, I have homes across the globe, found in the places and people I have loved, despite the brevity of time spent there. Rather than finding home in a place, I get to find it in people, memories, and feelings. Home is in Texas where my parents live and welcome me warmly, home is in Germany where I learned to love this cross-cultural existence, home is in Costa Rica where I made life-long friends in a short 8 months and learned Spanish; home is in the college dorm where I made met my best friends and fell in love; and that’s just to name a few!
Part of this journey of embracing The Adventure Attitude is to accept the things that are or aren't and find beauty there. Despite the heartache, the identity crises, the goodbyes, the inconsistency, there is something beautiful about being part of a global community and finding a home in the people you love where ever they live.
Whether you have always lived in the same zip code, or live out of a suitcase, I bet there is some heartache in the meaning of home for you too. Maybe your physical house was not a safe space; maybe the people who lived with you were not loving; maybe you moved so frequently that you felt like you never got to settle down. Home can be hard. Find the hard, but then find the beauty. Think about the people, places, and environments that made/make you feel safe and at peace. It might not actually be a place you have ever lived. Rather than a specific building or address, I bet that you will find that home is more of a feeling. Thankfully after moving 7 times, which doesn’t include a full year of nomadic living, I’ve gotten better at making home a feeling rather than a place. To me, it’s a comfy place to sit, gentle music, flickering candles, easy conversation, laughs, yummy food, and the sense that I am welcome and safe. That’s the kind of space that I desire, and that’s what I want to share with you. So consider yourself safely across the threshold, and in warm company.
Welcome to The Adventure Attitude!