home. sweet. home?

This weekend I flew down to Florida to see a long time friend who is battling some really difficult self-induced health issues. I thought it might be the last time I would ever see him but fortunately when I left I had this unshakable feeling that it would definitely NOT be the last time and he still has a lot of life left that he wants to live out.

So that heart wrenching story aside, I was out in the middle of Florida - what a place!? I felt very out of my element...random little houses, trees covered in Spanish moss, a few alligators lurking around out there (I know they were there, even though I didn't see any), and lots of pick-up trucks with over sized wheels and McCain/Palin bumper stickers driving around. Very, very strange. It was a little like home only everyone's necks were a darker shade of red, hell that state is probably a little bit darker shade of red than Nodak.

home? where is home? I still call North Dakota home but in many ways it's not. Sure my family and many close friends still live there and there are plenty of things I miss like the open prairie and Old Dutch dill pickle chips but I have found that I have become accustomed to the way of life on the east coast. As my 11 am flight crossed NJ into Philadelphia and I could see that lovely skyline (framed in smoggy haze of course) I felt glad to be home. Even as the words crossed my mind, I could feel my heart question the thought. This is home? A place where people add an S to the word "you" because they think you is only singular and can't say a long A to save their lives. It's hard to be stuck between who I used to be and who I want to be and where that person should live. Home is, as they say, where the heart is. I'm not sure my heart is really here or there but it sure felt nice to feel the dirty Philly concrete beneath my feet.