Where I Call Home

Where I call home. Where I call home. Where do I call home? I sat for quite a while staring at a blank document, waiting for one place to come to mind. Just one place though. At first I was thinking, maybe, Thailand.

The scenic island of Koh Samui, where every panorama looks picturesquely like a postcard.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the sparkling blue waters and the sand on the beautiful beaches in Thailand are on the front of some postcards. I’m sure that after visiting there, many people would like to make it their home. The lushness of the surrounding beauty draws you in and makes you wish that it was your home. 

Or maybe it’s Hawaii.

Of course, it’s the desired destination of many vacationers, but for me it’s also where my family lives. My cousins and aunts and uncles and second cousins and my grandfather are all there. In fact, almost everyone on my mother’s side of the family lives there. Always living overseas, I was never even in the same country as my extended family. It made so happy to visit them and be able to hear their voices. Although, some may consider the hubbub of a large family an annoyance, I am comforted by the noise of the people I love around me. 

Mongolia. Maybe, it’s Mongolia actually.

Mongolia is the country I resided in for ten years. That surely makes an impression, surely counts for some “home points.” When exotic place comes to mind, it’s not the fact that the the sky is almost always a beautiful blue or the fact that the appetizing smell of the traditional food leaves me nostalgic, it’s the fact that this place is where I had all my childhood memories. My first pet, my first day of school, my first bike ride all occurred in Mongolia. 

But I realized, despite all the places I’ve been, all the places I consider a home, there isn’t one place, or country, that is my home. There isn’t one that is my only home. Even after the many beautiful, inviting, and striking countries, states, areas, regions that I’ve been to in the past, and will go to in the future, I am doubtful that I could ever choose just one. I could never choose one to live in forever, or to be my home forever, because home could be anywhere that I can be happy, comforted, and … at home, really. 

KW