Home is where my family is

There comes a time in life when we realize all things must change. And the things we thought would forever stay the same, don't.

I'm a person who likes consistency. I like living close to my family, feeling comfortable in my surroundings, and knowing I am home. Once I set roots in a place, I never want to leave. My roots started on a little country road in Beavercreek, Oregon, in this--my childhood home.

My parents bought this house before I was born and it's the house in which I was raised. From a newborn December baby placed under the Christmas tree so many years ago, to an active youngster collecting chicken eggs and feeding cows, to a busy teenager learning to drive on the country roads nearby, to a college student coming home for the holidays, to a young married woman seeking the refuge of a safe place as she and her husband started a new life together, to family holiday dinners and gatherings, I have seen many, many, many days in this single location.

This single location, which has been my homing beacon, my refuge, my point of reference for all of my life, is now changing. As I've helped my mom prepare to move from my childhood home in the country to a smaller home in town, I have felt a gammet of emotions along the way. I've been excited for a new, easier change in my mom's life which will hopefully open doors for her that were previously closed. I've longed for times past when life as a child was simple and easy. I've recalled happy, joyful memories of family and friends. I've shuddered the thought of unfamiliar people inhabiting the walls with which I am so familiar.

It's hard to separate from something that has been so much a part of my life. Yet I know it's only wood and bricks, windows and carpet. And that my memories will stay with me always.

These past months have been a small journey for me. A journey of change, of separation, of letting go, and of realizing that home is more than a house, a bedroom, a back yard. It's about the people I love, no matter where they reside. And, that we can be happy wherever we are planted. I'm grateful for this experience. But most of all, I'm grateful my family can continue to be close to me (even closer, in fact!) and for the realization that it's not the house that makes the home, but the people who are in it.