"Peace - that was the other name for home."

Home is where your MOM is. Home is not where you live but where they understand you. Home is where the heart is.

The three quotes about all have one central theme: HOME. They all talk about the truth of home - it's not necessarily WHERE you live. Perhaps it's more about the quality of living that happens. It's not about your bedroom or your social groups or where you store your belongings - it's more about the love you receive, the life you lead, and the experiences that get you through the day. Each of the above quotes has captured the ideas of home for me, home in three different places. I grew up in Dallas, so that will always be my home. I go to school in Lubbock and love the life I have created there. Then there is my third home. I never "lived" there for long periods of time, I dont keep belongings there, I dont really even know THAT many people in the town. Marfa, Texas, however, and all of West Texas for that matter, will always be my home away from home.


Home is where your mom is. Wow, so very true. I never even realized the magnitude of this statement until I left for college. After my first emotional breakdown (oh, probably 3 hours after my family left me in dusty Lubbock), I quickly came to the realization that I NEEDED my mother. Not just for driving me to and from school or keeping the kitchen stocked or planning events for the family either. I needed her emotionally, spiritually, even physically needed my mom. My freshman year of college was awesome - I had the best roommate a girl could ask for, loved a local church, finally lived in the same town as my best friend. Things were good for me. Yet, I needed those phone calls with mom on the other end for stability and comfort. That first semester of school really hit home to me - I need and want my family more than I had ever realized.

Recently, mom and I were on a mini-roadtrip and got to talking about where I consider home to be. She said "surely you consider Lubbock your home now" after I said that Dallas was home. I just can't accept the fact that I have only one home - it's too deep of a word, implies to many emotions and memories to be so limited. It didn't take me long to get over that feeling when you're a freshman home from school. You know the one - you HAVE to constantly be with all your old high school friends. Nah, I passed that and immediately realized I would rather watch t.v. with the family than be out running around. It was during this road trip that I realized something: for me, home is where ever my family is. We can be at my grandmother's house or Colorado or on some fun vacation and so long as I am with my family, I will be happy. Home is where your mom is - sometimes you just need your mom's voice or presence to make things better. If mom is in Dallas, that will be home. If we are together somewhere else, that's just as comforting as being in my childhood town.


Home is not where you live but where they understand you. Wow. This one completely bottles up my college town: Lubbock, Texas. Granted, I'm only halfway done with school but it doesnt take the full four years to realize if that is where you should have gone or not. I knew before I got accepted that Texas Tech and Lubbock was where I needed to be. It took me a semester and a half to personally be aware just how perfect the match was.

By my second semester of freshman year, I had my friend groups that were no longer new friends (they had survived through Christmas break - always an accomplishment), I had a church I loved and people there I knew, and I had my sorority that I was slowly getting more and more used to. That one took a little longer to realized just how much I loved being an ADPi and how much it added to my life. Granted, they aren't for every one - that's very obvious - but, for me, it was a good addition to my life. If home is not where you live but where they understand you, than Lubbock is certainly home for me. I have made my life there. I have a support system and people who I hope to stay in contact with long after college. When I leave Dallas to go back to school, I say "I'm going home." People there understand the love I have for west Texas - after all, they live there too. They understand that Lubbock isnt as bad as people seem to think and that Tech really is better than A&M (haha...). Those in my sorority understand the connection that ADPi brings - it's a one of a kind relationship that you get to have with hundreds of other ADPi's. We are sisters, as cheezy as that may sound, and chose to join that particular group because of a connection we felt with the women of the sorority. People in Lubbock understand me. Lubbock is home.


And yet I still have what I claim to be my "true home." If home is where the HEART is, then Marfa, Texas has been home to me for many many years. I left my heart there many trips ago and my love for the far west, for the people and lifestyle and ranching that consumes it, has only grown since then. Though I would hardly call myself a "local," we have been going out to the little red and white house in town for years - our trips began as "Camp Marfa" with 15-20 people in a 2 bedroom house for a week and are now mostly for vacation and holidays. The magic of West Texas cannot be explained or illustrated - it must be personally experienced. For me, I love the weather and the natural soundtrack of the daily activities in town. Sitting on the porch you hear birds, kids laughing at the park, trucks driving by, trains pushing through town, gates swinging back and forth, and the wind rustling in the trees. There's no need to have music playing in the house - you will miss the beauty of Marfa if you mask it's own, unique music. I love it out there. If a cowboy came and took me away to a ranch out in the far west of Texas, I would hardly complain - more likely I would gladly take his hand and follow him to the land of mountains, cattle, and summer rains.

West Texas stole my heart long ago. Most of my best friends and favorite people are those I have met out there. Even if we rarely see each other, we share the love of the west - that alone seems to connect long-distance relationships in ways even constant texting cannot do. Whether I am at school or studying abroad, Marfa is the place I would RATHER be - even my time in Spain proved this to be true. It's my place, through and through.

So, whoever says you only have one true home clearly limited their own life. You can claim home wherever you want - it need only have that emotional connection, that way of tugging at your heart strings more than usual. Home is not necessarily a tangible building with beds and rooms and food in it. It's a concept, an idea that brings you peace and love and contentment. Afterall, peace was the other name for home.