H-O-M-E

 Home is where the heart is.  Home is where your story begins. Home sweet Home.

This morning I was reflecting on "home", and the many meanings it has. I mean referring to the same thing, a place where you are rooted, not the button on your computer or phone. You can say "I'm on my way home from work" and someone else can say "I am missing home". Although you are using the same noun, the meaning can be absolutely different.

Take for example, I recently went out of town. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and getting to a place that was green, I was very happy to be "home", the place where my children and husband are. The place that holds all of our things. However, if I were talking in the sense of how I feel about this place, I should say I was happy to be back with my family instead of home. Why? Because this is *not* home to me. Home to me is an area. It's a feeling. I truly feel at home in many places, like I could get a house there and make it my forever "home".

I found these definitions of "home":

noun /hōm/ homes, plural

The place where one lives permanently, esp. as a member of a family or household
• - I was nineteen when I left home and went to college
• - they have made Provence their home
The family or social unit occupying such a place
• - he came from a good home and was well educated
A house or an apartment considered as a commercial property
• - low-cost homes for first-time buyers
A place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates
• - Piedmont is the home of Italy's finest red wines
A place where an object is kept
An institution for people needing professional care or supervision
• - an old people's home
The goal or end point
The place where a player is free from attack
(in lacrosse) Each of the three players stationed nearest their opponents's goal
A game played or won by a team on their own ground

Home to me is what the are talking about in number  4: A place where something flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.  I am firm believer in blooming where I am planted. I struggled with that when we first moved here to West Texas. However, I have gotten out of that rut and have done my best to bloom.

When hubby talks about possible transfers or different jobs to areas I love, like around Aubrey or East Texas, I find myself longing for "home". Home in that was is not a house, it is a feeling of being grounded. It is where I have roots.

That being said, I have been to Branson, Missouri exactly one time. I will tell you this much, it could be "home" to me. Environment has to do with "home" much more than who is there. I think this is the same with our houses we live in, even if we don't feel like the area is home.

We have to work to make our environment a good one so that others feel at "home" there. So you yourself can feel at "home" there. I do feel at home where I am at, but it is a different kind of home than a home surrounded by trees and water. Here I have a home that I enjoy, people I like, and an area I am getting used to. I don't know that I will even consider West Texas as the place where I have roots or I am grounded. My prayer is that if we stay here, I develop those feelings. I think we all need a place to call "home", forever.