Pin It Forward.

Well we finally have internet access back after the storm so without further ado

 I am grabbing the Pin It Forward torch from Mae Photo & Design

 posting my "What Home Means To Me"  post below 

& passing on the torch to Ashlee from {Hi' yall}. 

I also want to send out a special thanks to the lovely Victoria of sfgirlbybay for 

putting this all together. If you've never checked out her blog, you should, she is fabulous! 

Of course  I also need to thank the Pinterest team for sharing the awesomeness with all of us!

(Remember the first nine readers to email me will receive Pinterest invites directly from yours truly, you know you want one...)

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When I think about what home means to me I automatically think one thing, home is what we make it. 

Home is definitely where the heart is. I didn't always know this mind you. I used to think home was more material then spiritual & emotional. Considering I have physically moved ten plus times in my life you could say moving had become a sort of science for me. At one point I suppose you could even say I was a machine. I was closed off emotionally, living by myself, living for myself. It was then that I moved to California. Sold my house, almost all my household possessions, packed up my clothes, put my car on a hauler & flew to California. Just like that. I intended on continuing to live just for me, I started fresh, sort of...

You see, things we push away & don't deal with don't just stay in hiding or so I've learned. California was cathartic in many ways, many good ways. California provided a home away from all that I knew. It was a home that forced me to learn myself, learn my heart. Then suddenly life threw a curve ball, but a very, very good one. Suddenly I was planning a wedding, moving back to Philadelphia & preparing to see my best friend & the love of my life deploy to a combat zone. It was a whirlwind time. 

I once again sold almost all my household possessions. Home physically became hotel rooms & guest rooms for a mere ten days & my heart found a home inside someone else's heart. It was awesome. Literally I felt like we were living on cloud nine. Then he was gone. Off to a combat zone. He took my heart with him, I won't lie. Once you go that far & your heart is given a true home you can't turn back. But that is ok. So for roughly a year home was a place of deep longing & missing something or maybe I should say, someone...

Thankfully my heart returned, just as promised. The first embrace after almost a year was nothing sort of amazing, we cried & held each other tight. Once things settled down home became "normal", it became what it means to me now... I woke up every morning grateful for the day, happy & sometimes overly excited for little things like talking over a cup of coffee, going on walks, holding hands & even just hearing him breathe as he slept next to me. 

My heart was happy, my home & heart were one (& still are!) 

So the saying, in my mind, definitely holds true- "home is where the heart is". Home is where your heart feels safe, where you can be your true self, where you can be grateful for every little thing, where you can notice & truly appreciate the beauty that surrounds, where you can grow & learn & live simply. To me, that is the home that everyone deserves but you have to work at it, home is what you make it...

xoxo

{For more pins of "What Home Means To Me" as well as my other boards please follow me on Pinterest.}