What do you collect?

When I was little I tried to collect different things; pogs, TY beanie babies; you know, the typical 90’s kid stuff. But, I am way to ADD to stick to one thing, so what I ended up with was a jumble of weird collections which my mom inevitably ended up throwing away because I left it lay around on the floor for too long. It wasn't until recently that I realized what I am collecting; homes.

When I moved away from home I started thinking about what really makes a place your home. My parent’s house is obviously my home because it’s where I grew up. I know which stairs squeak the loudest and I can tell you a hundred memories that go with each and every room. Then there is my best friend’s house. It’s my home because it’s where I spent half my time growing up (plus I know where they keep the snacks and how to work the tv). Of course there’s other places that became my home when I was young, my grandparents house where I learned to fall asleep to the sound of train tracks, or my aunts house where I went swimming every summer, the cabin we went to every year to celebrate Christmas with family. These places became my home because everything from them was connected to good memories, something I wanted to remember. When I was old enough to babysit I got some new homes. They were mine because I did the dishes, and fell asleep on the couch, but mostly because I loved those kids and took care of them like they were my own.

In the last four years I probably got more homes for my collection than the eighteen years before that. When it was time for college, when I really left home, I made a home of my own for the first time. My dorm was my home because it’s where I learned what real life was like, where I figured out that things were different without my parents around. Soon after that I got my own house with my best friends.  That became my home because it kept us all together, and happy. Four people who were away from our homes, making a new one of our own together. If I had to pick a favorite home, one to put up on a shelf away from all the others and shine a spotlight on, it would be this one. In those four years I got some other homes, boyfriends houses where I spent the weekends hearing stories about their childhood, or friends houses where I spent the weekends when I didn’t want to go to my own. These places became home because they were the homes of people I loved and I wanted to be a part of them

                Now I am in my new home, I have a pretty good idea of how long I will be here, and I know when this one has been added to the collection it will be time to find another one to add. There isn't just one piece of the puzzle that makes a place your home, but when some of the pieces are there, enough to make that place somewhere you never want to forget, then it IS your home. And if you don’t want to forget it; if you don’t want to lose it; you better hold on to it tight, and add it to your collection.