Last week, my family and I snuck away for a few days of vacation in Michigan. I always call this “going home” since I grew up in Michigan and this is where most of my immediate family lives. It’s funny though, when we go “home” to visit, we don’t actually go back to the house I grew up in. My Mom sold that house many, many years ago. Yet somehow, for me, Michigan still feels like home.

It turns out that for me home isn’t a house. It isn’t four walls. And it isn’t stuff—pictures, or furniture, or knickknacks. It isn’t a place or even a state—as I sometimes think it is with Michigan.

For me, home is people. Home is being with the people I love. My family.

I am struck by this as I come back to the place that I now call home—the house my family and I live in. I spend a lot of time creating this home—organizing and cleaning and decorating and making it a place we want to be. I think it’s important for me to remember, from time to time, that I don’t need things to create a true home. Home isn’t a place that is perfectly clean or perfectly organized or perfectly decorated. Home is simply the three people I share my house and life with.

I love going away for a few days and giving myself time to slow down, time to think and time to gain a fresh perspective. My takeaway this time:  spend more time with the people that make my house my home.

Ahh…it’s good to be home…though in some ways…I guess I never really left.

What is home for you? I’d love to hear.

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