"Home is where the heart is"

Over the past 12 months the word "Home" has been used interchangeably and in several different contexts. When we first moved to Australia and people would ask where we are from or where our "home" is, we initially would reply "the states". After several sarcastic responses of "No, really?? We know that, where in the states?" We would then reply with "Well, Jason's "hometown" is Sterling, IL and mine is Cincinnati, OH. But we came from Lexington, KY where we had our first "home" together. We soon shortened the answer to just Lexington, KY. My friend, Casey, asked me right before we left for our annual leave if when we get off the plane in the states if it feels like we are in a different country and my response to her was "It feels like HOME."

Over the past 3 weeks we traveled to all of the places we have called "Home." We flew into Chicago and stayed in Jason's "hometown" in Sterling, IL for 5 days where we visited with his entire family and the friends he grew up with. We were then picked up by my parents and drove to Austin, MN, the place that growing up we always referred to as "Going Home to MN" the town that my parents grew up in and where I was born. After spending 6 days visiting with my extended family, consisting of almost all of my aunts and uncles, cousins and both sets of grandparents we then began our decent to Cincinnati, OH. In my "hometown" we visited with my parents, brother, sister, high school friends, college friends and family friends and neighbors. We visited our friends "new home" in Columbus for dinner. We took a day trip to Lexington, KY and drove past our "first home" reminiscing of all the fun memories we had in that house. While in Lexington, Jason golfed/ drank with his old work buddies as I spent the day with my old work friends. That evening we spent time with our Georgetown friends, that have always felt like family to Jason. Since Lexington was the first place that we lived without any family around, we were very quick to fill the void with our friends and work families.

As the trip came to an end we starting talking about coming back "home", this time surprisingly we were referring to Australia. As the plane landed in Gladstone and on the drive to our "home", we began looking forward to seeing our friends and talking about plans for the weekend and getting together to catch up on the past three weeks. Living abroad, we are all so far from our "homes" so we have all quickly learned to rely on one another to fill the void of being away from family and friends.

I have always loved the quote "Home is where the heart is" and in the past there was only one place that came to mind when I heard it, the town that I grew up in. But now, I have realized a completely new meaning, "Home" will always be wherever Jason and I are together (and Bucky Boo) but with everywhere we go we will hold a special place in our hearts for all of those that mean so much to us and have made the places we live feel like "Home".

On the road again!