home: the place in which one's domestic affections are centered

Home is an interesting concept to me... it means so many things to me personally and has all kinds of connotations to the world at large. The house where you currently live, the place where you were born, the city your family lives in, your favorite town. Can we have more than one "home?"

I'm headed back to sweet Georgia early Monday morning, and I can't help but reflect on the past two months here in the heart of Florida. Orlando has become home. I never imagined in ten thousand years I would say that. It's flat and balmy. The people are eclectic and most definitely not Southern. The city is always rushing, and there's no peace and quiet. You can't see the stars without driving for miles and miles. But... I think I'm in the center of where God wants me so it feels like home. I have my hodge podge of a family here between old friends who feel like family and new friends who are making their way deep into my heart. I just never expected to love life here. A year ago something deep in my heart said "Go!" so I went... anticipating tears and loneliness and struggle. But knowing that God had a plan and purpose. I never imagined when He said "Go!" that'd I'd actually enjoy the path.

When the sun is rising on Monday morning, and I'm sitting at the Orlando airport I'll be flying "home." I can't wait to be back where things are familiar, where ordering a diet coke doesn't peg me as an outsider because of my accent, where my real family is, where people know my mistakes and love me anyway, where you can hear the crickets, where traffic doesn't actually exist, where water from the tap doesn't taste like a swamp. While I can't wait to be home, I am sad to be leaving this new home. I feel like I'm pulling vulnerable baby roots out of the soil and seeing if the can survive out of the ground for a week. Back to native soil I go! Can't wait to be there... can't wait to get back!