Nomadic Home

It’s been a long time since I’ve been home. HOME.

Home is a funny word. It’s been years since I’ve called anything other than Jersey home. I’ve been a nomad since childhood even though I didn’t leave my home state until I was 18.

It’s a feeling more than an activity. I’ve felt restless and aggravated and lost and sometimes found.

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Joining the Air Force met my nomadic needs and turned my world upside down every 4 to 5 years. It was a wondrous feeling of traveling the country and the world, of meeting people and experiencing cultures only found on black and white paper. The reality sprang to 3-D life like nothing else could.

I mentally always was nomadic, needing a change to spark my creativity, reboot me. Maybe it was because I was adopted and searching for my family or maybe I was born restless or maybe I’m running from something I will never understand…or maybe I’m just looking for home.

When I left the military, the nomadic life didn’t come to an immediate end. In fact it would take another 6 years before my wandering life style went dormant. I was grounded in one state for 12 years before I picked up roots and moved on.

As I sit in an airport contemplating my current space, debating my next move — or maybe lack of — I realized that I am waiting for my connection home (and no I don’t mean Jersey — which is disconcerting in of itself). I mean home to Austin. My bed, my friends, my life.

I watch people come and go. Different accents, conversations between strangers about work and vacation plans, a woman highlighting spreadsheets, children running in the center court. Everyone going somewhere and me? I’m going home.

I’m not sure I can explain how I’ve come to think of Austin as home as much as Jersey is still home for me. Despite the Texan ego, there are a lot of similarities between the two places I call home.

They are both beautiful states, the people are proud of their land and the history that is woven across the years, they are independent and strong and compassionate. Give the weather 5 minutes and it will change. The foods are diverse and delicious. You can go hiking and swimming and biking all in the same day.

I wonder if a time will come where I will find Austin lacking. Will I move on again?

In the swirl of people and the announcement of my flight, I’m eager to be home. To return to my new home. It fits me, I’m comfortable, and relaxed. It amazes me that somehow, Austin feels right, as much as I rejuvenate in Jersey, Austin resonates with me. I fit in.

I still like to travel and see new places, flying is such an adrenaline rush, but coming Home…that is a new feeling and one I’m not likely to change in 4 years.

I like the fact that I have 2 homes and love them both deeply. I guess that makes me Jersey Texan.

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