what does "home" mean to you?

home for me has almost always meant chicago. it's no secret that i have lived and loved my hometown for as long as i can remember.

when i moved out to the south suburbs back in the day, "home" was always my father's house back in the city. i'd go "home" for weekends and holidays and breaks from school and other special occasions, and that's how it was until i graduated from high school and started living full-time with my father for the first time in 10 years.

at northwestern, "home" was still my father's house. i'd still go home for weekends and holidays and breaks and sometimes just b/c i could, or just b/c daddy wanted me to.

after daddy died my junior year, my sense of home shifted a bit. james & carol's place was my permanent address, but i didn't really live there. it was around that time that i started finding housesitting/petsitting gigs so i'd have somewhere to stay during breaks when nu's campus was closed.

post-graduation, home was, appropriately enough, my apartment. easy enough.

when i had to give up casa de eulalia and embarked on my current journey of housesitting and couch-crashing and guest room usage, home was still chicago. during most of 2012 when i was in the north 'burbs, any extended trip to chicago was a trip home. if you were reading this blog last year, then you probably remember some of my ramblings about my love of this city. if you've been reading my other blog, then you're also acquainted with my unabashed affection for chicago, flaws and all.

and now that i'm in chicago and on the verge of moving again, my sense of home continues to shift. it's logical to me b/c as the years have passed, i have grown to consider the circle of friends i've developed more like my family than some folks who are actually related to me.

home is still chicago, and, if i'm honest with myself, will likely always be chicago. i can't imagine myself anywhere else, which probably speaks to a limited imagination on my part and i'm willing to accept that criticism. a lot of it is due to the fact that i spent a good chunk of the past year or so working to get back to the city that i love. i can't see myself giving up on chicago, despite mounting evidence that it's trying its damnedest to give up on me and its other fine citizens.