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It's no wonder countless musicians have written songs about such a place as home. Home, in the broad or narrow sense of the term, has the potential to evoke a whole spectrum of emotions. It's a place some idealize, long for, cling to, and reminisce about. It's a place others resent, run from, and rebel against. But even those who have a negative perspective of the actual residence they call home are able to redefine its meaning as "a place where I belong," allowing themselves to identify with someone or something or some place that gives them comfort and shelter and a sense of belonging. And therefore, home in its truest sense, may look different to each person, and yet, it holds a very similar meaning.
As I prepare for my visit to Michigan I am overwhelmed with emotion. It's not so much that I've been gone long (some wouldn't consider ten months that long) but in those ten months I have felt so far away. Home has seemed unreachable and far removed. So much so, that it's difficult to imagine that in just two weeks I'll actually be sitting in my mother's kitchen, nibbling on some yummy baked good, laughing with both her and my sister, as our children run around the house. What used to be a weekly scenario before I moved to Africa is now a sweet longing I anxiously anticipate.
As musicians sing about home, they are able to capture pictures and memories and emotions, allowing their listeners to enjoy there own personal thoughts about home.
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"Home, where my thoughts escaping" (Simone and Garfunkle, Homeward Bound) Long before I have needed to be physically preparing for home, my mind was homeward bound - remembering, anticipating, envisioning.
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"Still I go home again in my heart" (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Home Again in my Heart)Â I can't tell you how many times I have traveled home in my heart. Being able to recall memories and events and people in very vivid ways has sustained me through homesickness.
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"Wherever we're together that's my home" (Billy Joel, You're My Home)Â I am realizing that although I miss Rochester Hills, with its changing seasons, great restaurants, and fun shopping malls - the city itself is not what I long for. It's not Rochester Hills that signifies home to me. It's the people that live there. I can't wait to see ya'll!! More specifically, I've been able to experience a sense of home even in this strange place of Africa, because I am with Mark and the children. I've realized I can live anywhere with them and feel at home because, indeed, they are home to me.
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"Take me home, to the place I belong" (John Denver, Take Me Home, Country Roads)Â Even though I continue to grow and change from the person I was in Michigan, there will always be a sense of familiarity that will draw me back. In so many ways, I find my belonging in Michigan. It's the place that brings me comfort more than any other, just like country roads and West Virginia were to John Denver. But I'm thankful God has given me the courage to step outside of that comfort in order for him to continue to shape me in ways that "Michigan" wouldn't allow me.
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"Lord there'll never be another place in this world I'll call home" (Alan Jackson, Home)Â Â Even if I do call another place home, Michigan holds for me the deepest sense of home through its history of people, places and memories. So ready or not here I come! I'm coming home.
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Lori's Closet 
