#Home

Home is such a fun place. It is a lot of things to a lot of people, and to me, it has always been a rotating door. Ever since I can remember as a child, my family has moved me from one place to another. I am not exactly sure why because oftentimes it seemed as though it was for different reasons. If I had to try and guess why we moved so often, I would say it is because my mom loved to start over. She loved to adventure. She loved change and the newness that came with it. The reason that I would say that this was why we moved so often is because it wasn’t just new locations that she changed. There was a time when every weekend she would change a room. Move this chair over there, this couch to that location. “Hey, boys! Would you like to move your rooms around also?”. She just loved the adventure that would come with change.

Fast forward to my adulthood. Nothing really has “changed” for me (pun intended there). Actually, I really do enjoy change, and I believe I learned that from my mother, who probably learned it from her mother, and so forth down the line. I didn’t know that adventuring could be a genetic trait. I am no scientist here, but maybe it is. And if it is, maybe my kids have it too! I sure hope so at least.

But where was I? Oh yeah, now that I am an adult and I have people who count on me, this idea of change is much harder. Take my wife for example. She loves to have stability and to dig her roots down deep. She loves to make friends, and then keep them for a long period of time. To start working through our routine, and once we have a groove, then to dig it deep. She loves knowing where things are at, and where things should be. She enjoys neighbors and neighborhoods, and just the security of knowing, that she is home. But this is not quite me.

Even my kiddos are getting older. They have friends and teammates and routines that they want to keep. They are not getting girlfriends, and falling in “love”. They like knowing where their room is, and the boundaries that each person has to abide by in their home. They like that stability and learning about the things around them. They oftentimes don’t want to change.

I say all of this to say that that is why this past move was SO much harder than all the other ones. Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that, we moved. Hahaha. We moved across the country. Away from the midwest and to the coast. A place that I am absolutely falling in love with. A place that I can call HOME. But…. The move was hard. I do miss my friends. I miss the security of what we had, but something in me said it was time. Something in me said it was time to get to a place where I could plant myself and call #Home.

So what is a home? What do you think of when you think of the word home? Is it a place where you lay your head? Is it a place that you feel comfortable in? That you are accepting in? That you want to come to for rest? For healing? For love? Is it a place that you can create and enjoy? Is it a place that you add on to so that it fits the size of your growing family? Is it attached to a property or is it moving? When I say the word “home” what comes to mind for you? Well, I am going to tell you why I knew it was time to move, and why the place we moved to feels the most like home.

The first reason our new place feels like home is because it is new and familiar at the same time. When we moved we made a concerted effort to make sure that we were not just moving back to a place that we were before, and reliving history. Yet we wanted to move to a place where we had some roots in the form of friends and family so that we could have a support system if we needed it. And we did just that. We are right in the middle of two places that we have spent a lot of time at. We have friends in both locations, north and south. The new place we live has a lot of things happening. There is a ton of new construction and shops going up. We are close enough to things we knew before, but far enough away that we don’t have to do them if we don’t want to. So the first reason I call this home is because it is both new and familiar at the same time.

The second reason is, the things that we value are closer than ever. You may not have gathered this yet from my other posts or maybe you are a first-time guest reading this blog and have no idea. But our family has a love for the water. Living in the midwest we got a taste of this. We were around lakes, ponds, and rivers that would give us access to the water and the many enjoyments that come with it. We also had two pools in our old subdivision to get the more clean and pristine feel of the water. But there is nothing like the ocean. There is nothing like the waves crashing on the shore. There is nothing like the wildlife on the beach and in the water. There is something about the sea that calls my name over and over again. I can’t seem to get away from it. In the town we lived before, we spent much time inside and doing “city” things. Our family values nature and water and the ocean. So this move has allowed us to get outside. To see God’s handiwork. And to live near the beauty of creation. It inspires me to be more creative and puts me in awe of God’s magnificence.

The last reason this move feels more like home is the structure and living place we are in. The house we moved from was GREAT. It had everything we needed. Actually had a lot more space than the one we are living in now. It was in a great subdivision right next to the schools our kids attended. It had amenities galore, and really there wasn’t much more we could ask for. Until we moved, and I see what I like most.

One thing about the old home that I wasn’t a fan of, was that we were living on three floors. We had a finished basement that we used often, a middle floor for entertaining, and an upstairs that housed most of the living quarters. But our new home is much better. All ONE level. I can call out to my kids and they can hear me. My dogs don’t have to go up and down stairs and limp around. We can even see throughout almost the whole house sitting in our living area. The one level is a game changer.

Another thing that I like is that this house has the upgrades that we want. There were upgrades in the old house, and it was fine, but this house has the things that we adore. We love the updated countertops in the kitchen. We love the backsplash that we put in. We love the new appliances that came with the house. We love the hardwood floors throughout. I love our back grilling patio and our storage shed we installed. And I absolutely love our fenced-in backyard. Here the things that we wanted the most in the other house, this one has them. The finishing touches that we did on the decor just drives it all home.

So for me, the move was worth it. It helped show me what I was missing from our last home and why this NEW home is more like home to me. I am not sure that this is true for my whole family. I think they are still getting acquainted with the new home, but it is almost perfect for me. The biggest thing of all though, is that I am closer to nature, I can see God’s majesty daily, and it brings me closer to the Creator of it all. Home is where my family is. Home is where my heart is. And for me, home is where the ocean is. And now, we have it.