Home

I was studying at my desk earlier, and happened to look up at a picture I have on my desk. It's a photography project I had done for a class I took earlier, and related to the concept of home. The project I put up on www.cowbird.com had a different picture, but the one I'd originally used was this one.

The text that accompanied this picture was:

"Growing up, I always took the places around me and related them to home. I'd see reflections of the outside world in my home.

Coming to Sewanee I realised it was actually the other way around; I carry pieces of home wherever I go, because it's about the people and things that matter, and not where I physically am. As I travel to different places, I will be asked where home is, and I'll say Nairobi. But I'll be secure in the knowledge that I can be at home far away too, and I'm cool with that."

This got me thinking about what home exactly is for me, and I realised that this was more than just a place that could be defined by an address. 

When I think of home, the first place that I think of is my home with my parents back in Kenya, and I feel that that may always be the case. Unfortunately though, this means that I am only at home for three months a year, and probably even less once I graduate. Am I homeless for the other nine months? It's kind of shocking to think about it that way...

When I'm at Sewanee though, when I talk about going home most days, I'm talking about my dorm room. It's not a big space, but I've made it my own, and it's the place I go to in order to feel comfortable and get more in touch with myself. Other times, when I'm away from Sewanee, home is my sister's apartment. I know I can be comfortable there, and entirely at ease with myself. 

What did I take away from these musings?

Home is more than just a physical place: it's a place that has memories, and the potential for more; a place you experience all sorts of emotions at; a place where there is love; a place that sets you entirely at ease. 

I've learned that it's both comforting and empowering to know that I have the ability to create a home wherever I go!