I’m Gonna Make this Place Your Home

Now that I’ve been home for almost a week, and by home I mean not at school,  I’ve started to question what is “home.” When I’m in Albany, home can mean Poughkeepsie, or home can mean Lima Hall. When I say “I’m going home this weekend,” that means Poughkeepsie home. When I’m at Crossgates and I say “When are we going home?” that home means campus. When I’m visiting family in Syracuse, home can be either Poughkeepsie or Albany, or really anywhere.

When I’m in Poughkeepsie, I miss Albany. When I’m in Albany, I miss home. Driving past Albany on the way to Syracuse, all I wanted to do was stop, because it feels like my home. So really, what is home? Well according to Webster’s Dictionary home is “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” That’s not helpful, not at all.

I live in Albany more days than I do Poughkeepsie, yet my permanent address in Poughkeepsie. In Poughkeepsie I have my family; mom, dad, brother, and cats. At Saint Rose, I have my surrogate family, the family I send a holiday card out with, the family I talk to every day, that I share meals with, that I lean on when I need to, and they lean on me.

Our family Christmas card

Some say “home is where the heart is”; well what if I left my heart in San Francisco (even though I’ve never been there)? Does that make SanFran home? When people say “home for the holidays,” they generally mean with family. The family I spend my holidays with is not in Albany nor Poughkeepsie, but Syracuse. Does that make Syracuse home?

Is home where you keep all your stuff, and where your bed is? In that case, from August to December and January to May Albany is my home, but the rest of the year it’s Poughkeepsie.

Is home what the weather app on your phone is automatically set to? In that case it’s Albany. Is home comprised of Albany, Syracuse, Poughkeepsie and LA, or the favorite locations I have in my weather app?  Is home where you search local news for? If so, my home is Albany, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, and Buffalo. Is home where the wifi automatically connects? Then my home is Saint Rose, my parent’s house, my Grandma’s house, JFK airport, Wendy’s, Barnes and Noble and more.

Home is also known as “the place where I belong,” and in that case, I really have no idea where home is. I guess that’s what I need to figure out, and I’ve got plenty of time.

“Just know you’re not alone ’cause I’m gonna make this place your home” ~ Phillip Phillips

– Anne Marie