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A few days ago, I read a blog post by one of my sisters, Cindy.  She was writing about the fact that she is still missing her home in North Carolina, even though it has been a full year since her family moved to Oregon.

 http://crayzdaze.blogspot.com/2013/05/yep-still-talking-and-blogging-about.html



As I reread the post today, I could only think “of COURSE she still misses it.

It is her HOME!!!”

It got me to thinking about the game that my younger sister, Laila,  and I have played for the past few years.  You see, Laila lived on the East coast as well for a few years.  We saw each other once a year, maybe twice if we were lucky. 


A few years ago, Laila moved to Utah.  She is about an hour and a half from me and we see each other much more often, though not as often as we would both like. 



Having twins as her 4th and 5th children has not helped us see each other more, and we have developed a game in the last 2 years that goes something like this:
Laila:  Why don’t we live closer together?  Then we could hang out way more often and our kids could play!
Andra:  Yeah, that would be a great idea!  That hour and a half is a killer drive!!!!
Laila:  Why don’t you move closer to me?  Then it would not take us so long to get together
Andra:  Didn’t I tell you to move closer to ME when YOU moved to Utah?
Laila:  Yeah, but you could just move 1/2 hour NORTH of Bob’s job and you’d be the same distance from his work as you are now – then we’d be closer together!!!!!
Andra:  Nope.  Can’t.  The thought gives me hives. 

Laila recently threw a new piece into our game.   She pulled out a new weapon.  I will admit, she is good!!! 
She began sending me pictures like this: 

2,700 s.f.  30 minutes NORTH of Bob’s work
(AND only 45 minutes from Laila’s house)

To which I quickly responded with a picture like this:


3,400 s.f.  ONLY 5 minutes from my house
(AND $25,000 less!!!)

I have a very visceral response to the thought of moving out of my little farming community.  It certainly did not start this way.  21 years ago when Bob and I first looked at this house: 

If you can imagine it with a tiny tree in front, no garage, and no cute front porch…….
I HATED the idea of living in the middle of nowhere!  No store, no stoplight, no gas station, NOTHING!!! 
I desperately wanted to live in a neighborhood for the first 8 years I lived here.  I was always looking at houses, thinking of friends on the same block, wondering how soon I could move. 
One could say that subdividing our land and building a bigger home finally made me love this place that I live, but as much as I love this house, I love this PLACE more!

Cindy’s writing about North Carolina, made me wonder – what is it about this little town that makes me think of it as home?

Some people are fortunate enough to live in one town, one community, or even one state for their entire life!  We did not have that privilege growing up. 
I spent:
6 years in California
1 year in Arizona
4 years in Iowa
and 5 years in North Carolina
To this point I have spent (including college)  24 YEARS in Utah!  21 of those in this little town that I have come to adore. 

THIS is home.  These people that I wave to on the country roads?  These are MY people.  The people I  attend church with?  Again – MY people.   The cave up the road?  MY cave.  The orchards that bloom in the spring?  MY orchards. 
I have dug my roots deep.  I have learned to love the place where I live. 
AND I completely understand why my sister Cindy is still talking about North Carolina.

As children we put down roots. 

Repeatedly.

We made friends.

 Again and again. 

We said good bye to friends we loved.

 All too often.

We tried to fit into a new place.

 Painfully. 

I believe, if I ever had to move from my home, from the place I have grown to love, I would still be talking about it a year later too!!!!!