Home Is Where You Are

The weird thing about visiting the United States after living in the UK for four months was that . . . it wasn't actually weird at all.  It felt completely normal.  I expected to be thrown off by the over-sized cars, the sprawling Walmarts and conspicuous absence of red double-decker buses.  But there was none of that.  It was as if I had never left. 

There was no relief about being back in my home country and no feeling that I had finally come back home.  There were really no notable feelings at all.  It was a bit odd. 

In fact, I didn't feel any really strong emotions about being back until I saw my Susie.  As her car pulled up to the house I immediately started crying.  (Oh, how I miss my Susie!!)  We got to spend an entire day together.  We went out to lunch, did a bit of shopping and even got tandem pedicures.  It was as if nothing had changed.  Nothing can replace the comfort of being with old friends. 

Susie picking out my polish

It was no surprise to me that I miss my friends and family so much more than I will ever miss living in the United States.  The States are great, but I've never been super patriotic and have really enjoyed the adventure of living abroad.

Once I got back to the UK, I was again surprised at how normal it felt; it felt like I was coming back home.  Which brings me back to the print I posted at the beginning of this entry, "home is where you are".  The first time I saw this I thought it was suggesting that home was whereever you happened to be at any given time.  It seemed to put the bar pretty low.  It wasn't until later that I realised what it meant, "home is where YOU are".  For me, home is where Jason and Charlie are.  We could be happy anywhere in the world as long as we are together.  The city and country aren't what make it feel like home.  It is who you have there with you.