Home by Melissa Walker

My home, is in Nashville, Tennessee. I have lived here my whole life, and many of my memories are from TN, but unlike Melissa Walker I don't feel a strong connection to the South. Walker tells tales of her family, and herself both in nature, and out. She says, 

"Before I went away for the first time, I would have said that Jerome and I have stayed in the South out of a sense of obligation to be near our parents. Now it seems we stayed in Georgia because we felt pulled to be there; we wanted to be there. When people I met asked where my home was, I simply said "Georgia," and I said it with feeling. It would be a long time before I'd leaner that it's possible to hold that intense attachment to one place in tension with a passion for other places and other ways of life." 

I do, however, feel a strong connection to Nashville. I want to live other places, namely New York City, or even somewhere over seas. I long for adventure, and the chance to get away from home--something that I haven't been able to do since I go to school in my hometown. I want to travel, and I want to see the world, but I like knowing that I can come back. Nashville will always be my home. I don't think that I will ever stay here out of an obligation. I feel that if I choose to live here permanently later in life, I will not make the decision lightly. I love Nashville. I have had many memories here, although I have yet to find a snake egg, or to bring home a flying squirrel.

Home is sitting on the back porch listening to the birds. Home is watching the sun set from your roof. Home is spending time with your family. Home is playing scrabble, and fighting the whole way through. Home is taking the dog out, and cleaning your room. Not everything about home is glamorous, or beautiful, but that is what makes it home. Your house is a place to live, a shelter, but your home, is so much more.