Home is where the heart is...

One of my favorite bloggers, La Belette Rouge has been writing (and having guest postings) about home. What defines home. What makes home feel like... home. And as I embark on my mother/daughters road trip to Missouri and get ready to drive through Indiana I can't help but think of "home." Indiana to me is home. Always will be. Interestingly enough, I was not born in Indiana, nor did I live there before I entered middle school. In reality, I only lived in Indiana for maybe 9 out of my almost 38 years. I've lived in Ohio for far more years, but whenever I cross the state line into Indiana I feel at home. I get almost giddy with excitement. Yet I have no family I visit in Indiana, and the only reason I wind up back there is for work. Last week, I was driving for work to a property in Lima Ohio and wound up taking the same route I used to take to go back home to visit Fort Wayne Indiana. I have not made that trip in 11 years but still, the route was instantly familiar. Odd. To me, home is where I feel comfortable. It is where my children are. It is where my friends are. At the end of a long day, it is where my books are. My comfortable, familiar things. On vacation, it is where my suitcase is. For me, home is always where my heart is, which is something I take with me everywhere I go.
*For those of you who are not familiar with Belette, simply click on her name to get to her blog. Raw, tender, witty Belette. Just don't leave me in the lurch when you fall in love with her.