Back to the USA

I finally did it. I booked my flight back to the USA and when people ask if I am excited to be heading home there is a part of me that says yes but another part that wonders where the heck home is anymore.

I suppose when it comes down to it most recently Colorado is my home, although I never really considered it home per say.  I will be heading back to Colorado when I make my way back, but  I will only be in Colorado for about 5 1/2 days before I head east to New Hampshire to begin the next phase of my life as a graduate student.  Those days are going to be a whirlwind of getting everything together I need to make the journey east including a phone, a car, and my stuff from the storage unit.  I'm also hoping to squeeze in catching up with as many folks back in Colorado as I can before I head east.

As this idea of heading back to the USA and people around me talking about heading home, I'm left wondering if I actually have a physical home anymore.  Honestly, I don't think I do.  I grew up in California and I do have family there but that is my old home, when I left California I can honestly say I don't foresee ever living there again (but you never know).  So California is a part of who I am and I will always have ties there but it's definitely not home.  My parents don't live in a house in my childhood house or anything so I don't consider their house my home.  I spent the last four years in Colorado living, schooling, and working on my own.  I have amazing friends and I did some really cool stuff when I was there but there was always something missing that made it feel like I could stay in Colorado on any permanent basis.  For the past 9 1/2 months I have lived in Korea and well I always knew my time here was temporary whether it was for 1 year or more, so Korea definitely isn't my home.  So where is home? Does this concept actually exist or is it just a relic notion from childhood?

I think I'm still working on that part.  The short answer is home is where my dog, Dunkin', is, so for now I suppose that is technically Colorado.  As I begin yet another phase in my life I'm not sure where exactly I'll wind up or where the road will take me and I kinda like that idea.  As my life progresses the idea of home and the answer to, "Where are you from?" becomes increasingly difficult to answer in one word and I'm beginning to think I like it that way.