Living away from home--Stace

   Kade and I are at the end of our fun trip to see family. Every time a trip comes to an end it's always a bit bittersweet. It will be nice to get home and be with my husband and get back into a more regular routine, but it's always hard to say goodbye.
  
     Steph has been very lucky in that most of her married life she has lived close to mom and dad. I have not. My first year of marriage we actually lived basically down the street from them but then we moved, and moved again, then moved again, then moved again. And I'm talking bouncing states. But there is always a sense of almost well being when returning home.

     When I first moved away from home it was very difficult for me. I don't think it helped that it was just before Christmas and I was in the early stages of pregnancy with my son and it was the first time I wouldn't be home for Christmas. Yea it was a difficult time. As my husband and I have started our lives together it is still hard to be so far from my family.  At first it was hard because I missed everyone so much, especially my nieces and nephew. As I continued in my pregnancy, it was hard because I wanted them to be there and share the experience with me. After my son was born, my mom stayed with us for two weeks and it was hard for both of us when she left but, strangely, it was then that I wasn't living for when my family would visit or when I would visit them. I was a mother. I was a wife. I finally felt like I belonged in the life I was living.

      It was hard to let go of the life that I had lived so long as a college student who would go to school and on every break go home. After I got married it was hard for me to adjust and accept the mindset that I wasn't going to go home as often or as long as I had. I guess it took becoming a mother to realize hey, I'm not a kid anymore and I have a family of my own.

     Now I think of my small apartment as home, but, I also think of my parents house as my home as well. It may be corny but I guess it's true that home really is where the heart is. Home is where my husband and son are. Home is where my family is.