Home

Home, to me, signifies a space where I can be at total ease with friends and family or on my own. It is a space where I can reflect on the day, plan for the future, or simply embrace the present without worry.

On my travels I have not spent more than 6 days in a single place. While this can be exhausting at times, it is also refreshing to not fall into existing habits and also to see and connect with new places around the country.

I have stayed in a lot of different places and arrangements over the past 3 months. From Winston the Winnebago (the trailer) parked in an IKEA in downtown St. Louis, to resting while clouds engulfed us in the Santa Cruz mountains, to waking up at 6:30 in the morning to the stomps, roars, and giggles of my favorite 4 year old monster in Forest Grove, Oregon. Each place that I have stayed holds great memories, comfort, and new growth.

It is empowering to travel and live on the road, yet it’s unfamiliar to not feel a central peace within a single location. Perhaps this is a shade of  ‘the grass is always greener’, but I was raised and I grew up with very specific places and memories that I perceived as home throughout my life. My parent’s house in the mountains of Tahoe, high school saturated with art in Michigan, the lifelong friendships from University of Oregon, the concrete jumble of people, music, and culture in San Francisco, the disc golf courses and community in Truckee. All of these places have distinct memories which draw vivid pictures of home at that time in my life.

I do miss the routines and comfort of having a sole place to call home, but this journey has taught me that home isn’t a solitary location. The friendships, family, and color that fill my life and memories are what made these locations my home.

Home is where the heart and mind lay.

Home is as fluid as the stream the fisherman wades into. It is the warmth of a campfire surrounded by friends. It is the disc golf course by the sea or in the pines in the mountain.

Before this trip, I thought home signified a single destination. However, while looking back, I realize that home has always meant many things to me. New and old friends, family, solitary disc golf rounds, isolation in the wilderness, playing music… Home could be in an infinite number of places, but there will always be beauty in its simplicity. Home is happiness, and my vocabulary for home continues to grow every day.