Week #51: Home is What You Make It.

My 2016

Week #51

Home Is What You Make It.

It's hard to believe that there are only 3 days left in 2016. Some people would be beyond happy that the year is almost over. 

I tend to have mixed feelings about it. 

Don't get me wrong; a lot of terrible, awful, miserable things have happened in 2016... 

But there's been so much good, so much beauty, and so much happiness as well.

And, in reality--isn't that the way every year goes? There are good days, bad days, beyond tragic weeks, blissful months...and to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cause that's life.

As I've been at home this past week, it's been the same way; an interesting combination of good and bad. Even this final week of the year has been a mixture of smiling reunions and tearful confrontations, of laughter and anger, of awkward and comfortable.

It's weird; every time that I return to Appomattox I find it to be more difficult. I'm not saying that it's a terrible experience--I love coming home. But with each trip I find my friends more changed, my favorite haunts more changed, my church more changed...and I'm changed too. Just in a different direction. 

It's my home in name and in memories only...it's not really home in reality. And that's a little heartbreaking.

I know it'll always be "home." As long as my family is here and I have friends to catch up with, it will be a place near and dear to my heart. After all, this is where I lived most of my life. This is where I went from a seven year old scrawny child to...whatever I am now. It means too much to me. I could never completely disown it.

But I guess this is a part of growing up...of realizing that your life and your dreams are consistently taking you farther and farther away from where you began. 

The important thing I have to remember is that regardless of where life takes me, the people who were here all along will always be here, and they will always support, encourage and lift me up. 

May I always remember to do the same for them, wherever I am. 

Because no matter how much good and how much bad we go through...

I am truly blessed with a hometown that I love--and that loves me back.