How do you spell home?

'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone 

where you go when you’re alone 
Is where you go to rest your bones 
It’s not just where you lay your head 
It's not just where you make your bed
As long as we’re together, does it matter where we go? 
Home

I've thought a lot about home recently, actually. 

In fact, there have been a number of places I have called home so far in my lifetime -->

Florida, where I spent my childhood, adolescence, and college years (and where I now return to on vacations)...

Michigan, where I enjoyed many carefree summers at my grandparents' house...

Arizona, where I began my teaching career...

Notre Dame, where I spent three incredible, faith-filled summers (and now football games)...

And, now, I find myself in my latest home. It's one home that I feel I kind of eased into slowly - testing the waters, not sure if I was ready to embody my neighborhood and school right away. Looking back at this summer, it all felt so new and so surreal. I think I must have spent at least the first couple of weeks (if not the first couple of months) trying to figure out if I made the right choice for my new home and trying to figure out why I had moved away.

Even today, in the midst of Catholic Schools' Week Mass, I had my doubts of calling this place home. But then, I saw the students and their families (and even received a few hugs from the students and from fellow faculty), and I had that feeling of realizing that I am home.

With God beside me, I see myself in the context of the above song: "As long as we're together, does it matter where we go? Home."