I arrived back in my town after having traveled around a few cities visiting friends and family and was waiting in a coffee shop waiting for the next moves. I sat at a little table surrounded by my backpack a duffel bag and some other small bags containing my whole life for those few weeks.
I didn't have a house to go to. I had moved out of my old apartment and signed a new lease for the next school year. While I was away the new house was broken into and my roommates and I were considering trying to break the lease. So in a way, at that moment, I was homeless. It was a very unsettling feeling at the time. Knowing that your space and comfort zone was invaded. And that you don't have your own private bubble to crawl back to.
So I'm just sitting there with my coffee that I couldn't afford, reading my book waiting for my phone to charge. I felt like a traveler where the trip didn't end even though I made it back to my town.
Eventually I get that text message with a friends location and so I start bopping around town visiting other friends until I got to my final sleep spot destination. Everyone I spoke to was compassionate and mentioned housing me and wanting to help out. I felt a notion of freedom and love. Free to go explore the world knowing there are people that are the backbone to my life.
I felt a shift in my outlook on being out and exposed in the world without my own place. Instead of lost, I felt embraced by the people around me. Even traveling between cities I was welcomed and the unfamiliarity was exciting.
Now more than ever do I feel that it's not a house that should make you feel secure and safe, but that it's the people you value in your life that really holds you up. I went from joking about being homeless to really appreciating the fact that I was actually extremely homefull.
Home is where the heart is. And your heart is within your people.