A Traveling Heart

I've traveled somewhere almost every weekend of this summer. Typing that out, it sounds like the dream, and for the most part it is, but it also means countless hours in the car, countless hellos, and countless goodbyes. It can be a lot on a heart.

I mentioned in my previous blog that I am such a homebody, like my friends practically have to beg me to leave the house. But, I feel like "home" is so many different places for me. First of all, I've lived in 11 different houses, so my actual home where my bed is has changed so many times throughout my life.

Arizona House

Arizona House

East 19th St House

Main St. House

Mom's Chapin St. House

Dad's Chapin St. House

My current homes...

My mom's house.

My dad's house.

Then there are the places like my grandparents' houses that have been a constant throughout my life. I can tell you memories from when I was 3 years old, 8 years old, 12 years old, and 19 years old that all happened in those same houses. Those places also feel like home.

All of these pictures were taken during Christmas time at Grandma & Grandpa Thernes' house. When I think of Christmas, I think of it here.

My 11th, 14th, and 15th birthdays were spent at the farm at Googie and Grampie's house.

Googie & Grampie's house, 2019.

And there are places that have only been in my life for a few years that also feel like home.

South Dakota.

The lake.

And places that have only been in my life for one year.

Lincoln.

It's the people that make a house a home, and I believe this to be true, but I also hold sentimental value in the physical places themselves. Those walls have heard me laugh and cry and scream and cheer. Those walls have held up my Hilary Duff posters at age 8 and my heart shaped picture collages at age 15. Those walls have seen concerts I that give in front of my mirror and watched me play house (I always pretended that I was 13 years old but had a baby and a full time job as a secretary???).

Those walls were where my life happened.

I have five weeks left to live in my mom's house before I go back to college. I'm not planning on coming home next summer, so it's especially hard to wrap my head around the fact that I only have five weeks left of this house being my home where I live. I think that I have a hard time with change because I so fiercely hold people and places in my heart, which makes leaving them no easy task. But, as Pooh says:

Sorry for getting so emotional. Late night thoughts will get ya.

Just Julia.