Home

I love to travel.  Every place has new sights to see, interesting food to taste, and delightful people to meet, but there is no place like home.  There are places where I have lived and experienced a part of my life.  Those places created a part of me of who I am.  Home isn’t where you hang your hat.  It’s where you hang your heart.

I grew up in Daytona Beach Florida.  I was able to visit Daytona this last week and reconnect with a great friend.  Daytona is known for a racetrack, a beach on which you can drive any car, and Spring Break, but the real identity in my hometown is in friendships.  Only a few of my friends remain in Daytona, but no matter where we live today we are still connected.  Daytona may be small in population and acreage, but the friendships, peace, and memories are as large as the Atlantic Ocean that borders the town.

Home contains people who are there for you.  Home contains a place where you can use your talents and gifts to make the world a better place.  Home is where you can influence the most important people to you in your life.  Home is where you can grow and thrive, and everything in your hometown creates a space for you to thrive.

Home provides peace.  It’s not easy to be peaceful in a community that is contentious, so we need to provide peace. 

Home extends beyond family that is blood.  It’s family made up of people who love and care about you.  It’s a family that accepts you with all of your quirks, as you accept others with all of their quirks.  It’s a family that loves and accepts people no matter what they believe, because love covers over so much.

I love to travel.  I have come to realize that I love the people that I meet when I travel or the people that get to reconnect with in life that makes my travelling so much better. A home is made up of people. People are great and flawed, but every home has its best and worst parts.  Home.  There is no place like it.