Home.

"Coming Home" by Gwyneth Paltrow

has been stuck  in my head all week long.

Moving away from home was the biggest challenge I've had yet to go through, and its only the beginning. I decided in January to apply to transfer to a college last minute, and then in Feb got accepted and decided that was the place for me! 

I am so excited to start this new journey in my life...I couldn't be in a more ready place to begin! I am 21 years old and ready to gain some independence!

I am from a really small town called Hilmar, now most of you have probably NEVER heard of it...but that is okay because when I hear the word Hilmar the first word that comes to mind is HOME

You may think of this as pathetic to think that a 21 year old being away from home for a little over a month was homesick. But that is just because you might not understand what it is like.

Back at home I live with my parents, and used to live with my two sisters until they got married and made the cutest little boys on earth (so far...I'm sure there are more cute little additions that will be coming from my sisters someday again:) We don't live in a big house, my parents are teachers in CA and well, if you know anything about CA teachers its not like they get paid the big bucks, but that never mattered to them.

I found inspiration in the fact that my parents decided to raise their family in the small town of Hilmar, where they decided to teach and coach and volunteer most of their time. I learned from them that having a lot of money is not necessary to be happy, we are blessed to have the income that my parents make, but we aren't exactly rolling in the dough. 

My parents could have easily raised us in the town over  which has 3 high schools, but in our town, there is one high school, one middle school and two elementary schools...and the only reason why there is two elementary schools is because there is a small town right next door which is in our district. But I am blessed to have grown up from Kindergarten throughout Senior year with the same people. We were lucky to have more additions come along to our school and  they became friends of mine and friends of friends of mine. 

I was one of those people who took after their parents in the fact that they are involved in everything they can be, when you are in a town like Hilmar it is truly a community, its not a town, its a community, you could even say its a family.

My cousin who I live with in college and I decided to come back down to the valley to surprise her brother (my cousin) at his 21st birthday party...and the feeling I got when I saw home is unexplainable...the feeling I got when I hugged my mom, dad, sisters, nephews, and other family members was incredible...words can't even describe it.

Back to the reason for the blog the song "Coming Home"

The lyrics to this song are...

It's a four letter word
A place you go to heal your hurt
It's an altar, it's a shelter
One place you're always welcome
A pink flamingo, double wide
One bedroom in a high rise
A mansion on a hill
Where the memories always will
keep you company whenever you're alone

After all of my running
I'm finally coming
HOME - the world tried to break me
I found a world to take me
HOME - there ain't nothing but a blue sky now
After all of my running,
I'm finally coming...home

Well they say it's where the heart is
And i guess the hardest part is
when your heart is broken
and you're lost out in the great wide open
Looking for a map
For finding your way back
To where you belong
Oh well that's where I belong

HOME - the world tried to break me
I found a world to take me
HOME - there ain't nothing but a blue sky now
After all of my running
I'm finally coming...home

HOME

HOME - the world tried to break me
I found a world to take me
HOME - there ain't nothing but a blue sky now
After all of my running, I'm finally coming...
After all of my running
I'm finally coming...home 

Home is a place your always welcome. 

Nothing beats home.

I'm so blessed to have a place where I can call home and where I know I'm loved and have a place in this world.

Lets face it, this world gets messy, this world can tear you apart in a blink of an eye.

My heart breaks for those people who don't have a home, those children, teenagers, young adults,  who don't have a home and have no place to go where they feel welcome. I wish everyone could have a place to call home, I wish there was something I could do about it. 

So to all of you out there that feel like they have no where to go, I'm truly sorry. 

And to all of you who are fortunate enough like to me to have a loving family, community or friendship that makes you feel at home, don't take it for granted, because after all...there is no place like home:)