Home

Ok, so by no standards would i ever count myself a home bird. I'm usually spending more time dreaming or planning how to get out of the country other than thinking of being here. But today while flying home from a week in Bulgaria, was the first time I've ever thought "YAY home!" and I've spent 3 months in america on 2 separate occasions and been to many other countries for a longer length of time. I don't know why i was happy to be back in the country i was born in. To me the word "home" is a strange concept. Yes i have moved around a lot, and I've always called home the place where I am currently living. I don't feel a massive affinity to it like other people i know do. I've always argued the point that home will be where I end up, be it in another country, or another town. I have no massive urge to spend the rest of my life in northern ireland or ireland, or anywhere else. I feel more liberated with the fact i could live anywhere, i could end up in australia, new zealand, canada(yes all english speaking countries, but thats all i can deal with due to my ignorance of languages). At the moment i should be in north state new york at a summer camp, that is where my home is during the summer, and it pains me not to be there, but so far i've had an incredible summer, with dublin, salou, my mums wedding, and bulgaria all being involved. To date i can say i have counted 4 places my home due to my mum, and 4 places home due to university and 1 summer camp home. Which to me i think possibly dilutes the word and makes it have less of an impact for me. Yes i think i fit in here in northern ireland, as i know our ways and i know how to act. But there is definitely something else out there. I always thought i should of been born in america, and therefore ive always dreamt of living there.

What makes home? other than a place you feel comfortable, you have the people you care around you and your happiness. Yes that could mean where your extended family live, but to me that just means a house anywhere in the world, where i have my wife and kids(if i'm lucky) and a job and a good circle of friends. I have met people who find that concept hard, but i know when and if i do come back to ireland, that my family and real friends will always be here for me. Some might say absence makes the heart grow fonder, i say it makes it grow stronger. I don't know what life holds in store for me, but what i do know is, no matter where i am, i'll be home

.