What makes a home?
The type of home? Where it’s located? The people inside? The way it makes you feel? Must home be singular? Can we have multiple? Or will there always be one that feels like our truest version of the word? I’ve never battled these questions before. I’ve always concluded that home was a group of people rather than a physical place. However, in light of recent experiences, I’m rethinking my definition of the word entirely.
Can home be defined?
Throughout the past seven months living in Vigo, my perception of home has shifted. While my original definition still rings true, I now acknowledge what it’s lacking. In the past, I equated home to mean my mom, dad, aunt, and a few select friends – all of whom were conveniently located in the same geographical space.
However, as seasons change and people relocate, home now stretches beyond a singular building or the people inside it. Vigo has taught me that home is wherever you feel a sense of longing after having left it. This sensation may manifest in the form of a loved one, your favorite aisle in a local bookshop, the perfectly positioned bench in a park down the street, or – in my case – the energy of an entire city.
The heart of home.
In seven short months, Vigo has shown me so many sides of home, accelerating our impending love story. Home is Plaza de Constitucion packed with people on a Thursday evening. Home is sunsets at Playa de Los Gatos listening to Tom’s Diner play in the background. Home is a mesa full of friends at Las Tablas. Home is a light drizzle hitting my face while summiting Calle Brasil. Home is every little thing about a city that goes unnoted on TripAdvisor or Yelp reviews but lingers so distinctly in my mind.
Home is the longing I felt when leaving Vigo and the yearning I feel to return.
I am convinced that home is neither a singular place nor a set group of people. Our definition of the word is ever-expanding. Home will always be my sweet family and friends in Wisconsin. AND YET, home is also Galicia – Vigo – Spain. Perhaps the luckiest among us are those that can redefine the meaning of home over and over throughout the course of their life.
I hope to spend the rest of mine carving out new corners of my heart – forever rediscovering home – wherever I find myself in the world.