Home

Lately, I've been thinking about the idea of "Home." It was soooo wonderful to be back in Mississippi, Washington, and Virginia this holiday season. But it was also a bit strange to see these places and people I love with new eyes. Eyes that have become accustomed to seeing poverty, concrete, traffic, and street vendors on a daily basis.

Home. I re-learned home is not a physical place. It is many physical places.

Home is Virginia.

It is Magen's house filled with people and her homemade pico de gallo. It is driving down ice-strewn Canby Road to visit Jessica with her music room, her new "wall of violins," and her most infectious laughter. It is a Zumba class with the queen of dance, Lisa. It is a tearful hug and fun lunch with Molly Kay and her now-three-year-old daughter. It is a cinnamon roll, still warm from the oven, in Karen's kitchen. It is watching my girls roller skate with friends. It is Costco. It is Target. It is dinner at Olive Garden with Allison, Rob, and Gage (oh the breadsticks!) It is a drive with Holly Davis to discover available land. It is the rolling hills of the countryside. It is the cozy town of Hamilton that brought me to tears while driving on main street.

Home is also Mississippi with canoe rides on the lake, BBC Austen movies, and jigsaw puzzles. It is Truman and Allison's gumbo, and a breakfast of grits and deer sausage. It is multiple trips to Shipley's donuts. It is watching my kids make wooden tops with their Grandad and watching Nana play "Frozen" with Charlotte.

Home is Washington. My mom's blackberry pie and potatoes au gratin. My dad's homemade hot chocolate. Home is running six miles with Katie on Soos Creek and holding my niece in a morning hug. Home is sitting on the green sofa opening Christmas presents while the electric train circled the Christmas tree. Home is family.

But home is also Jakarta.

Sometimes I feel torn. Torn between "homes." But then again, maybe all these separate pieces, these people and places that many never collide except in my own experience, actually make me whole.