If home is future, and not only in the past, what home do you envision when your journey comes to an end? What memory or place says home to you most powerfully?
To be quite honest, I have been blessed to feel "at home" in many different places - my home where I grew up and where my parents still live (obviously), but also USF for college (especially the Catholic Student Union), Notre Dame (for the ACE program), Phoenix (where I did my ACE placement - especially my school), and now Chicago.
Although, I admit, Chicago took awhile.
But what makes these places home to me?
1- Home is the people, most definitely. It's having family and friends to share in the good (and hard) times. And it's about people who are genuinely there for you. Here in Chicago, I feel at home, especially around my fourth grade team, my friends from Church, and my sister & ACE friends. They are people I enjoy spending time with and who make me feel at home through their actions, kind words, and times that we share.
2- Home is where there is a strong sense of welcome and belonging. I feel this with my students every day. And I felt it in Arizona too. (That's why I think I maybe am really called to be a teacher.) And I feel it with my parish here in Chicago - from the young adult activities to the small groups I've participated in to the weekly volleyball - I feel included. And I feel loved.
3- Home is hard to leave. Most recently (well, it's been nearly 2 years now), I cried - no, more like sobbed - quite a bit when I had to say goodbye to my friends, students, and co-workers in Arizona. They had all become my family, my home away from home. And it was almost unbearable to leave. This makes me think of a quote I love that I came across awhile ago on Pinterest:
4- Home is where God's presence is evident. And let me tell you something - after days like today that are much needed respites from the craziness that this week had originally promised, how can I not find God's presence with me?
And when all of these add up, how can you help but feel that you are home...
Now, there's just one thing more...Along the lines of home, here are 2 songs that I find to be very poignant and beautiful. Enjoy...
To be quite honest, I have been blessed to feel "at home" in many different places - my home where I grew up and where my parents still live (obviously), but also USF for college (especially the Catholic Student Union), Notre Dame (for the ACE program), Phoenix (where I did my ACE placement - especially my school), and now Chicago.
Although, I admit, Chicago took awhile.
But what makes these places home to me?
1- Home is the people, most definitely. It's having family and friends to share in the good (and hard) times. And it's about people who are genuinely there for you. Here in Chicago, I feel at home, especially around my fourth grade team, my friends from Church, and my sister & ACE friends. They are people I enjoy spending time with and who make me feel at home through their actions, kind words, and times that we share.
2- Home is where there is a strong sense of welcome and belonging. I feel this with my students every day. And I felt it in Arizona too. (That's why I think I maybe am really called to be a teacher.) And I feel it with my parish here in Chicago - from the young adult activities to the small groups I've participated in to the weekly volleyball - I feel included. And I feel loved.
3- Home is hard to leave. Most recently (well, it's been nearly 2 years now), I cried - no, more like sobbed - quite a bit when I had to say goodbye to my friends, students, and co-workers in Arizona. They had all become my family, my home away from home. And it was almost unbearable to leave. This makes me think of a quote I love that I came across awhile ago on Pinterest:
Yeah, home is kind of like that.
And when all of these add up, how can you help but feel that you are home...
Now, there's just one thing more...Along the lines of home, here are 2 songs that I find to be very poignant and beautiful. Enjoy...
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