I have a somewhat weird confession to make.
I really like Abilene. It feels like home.
There are really only three places that qualify as “home” to me: (WARNING: CHEESY LINE COMING)
1. Plano. This is home because its where I grew up. Allen is quasi-home because my parents moved and obviously I like being around them, but its still new enough that it hasn’t quite made the list yet. So Plano takes the top spot.
2. Abilene. Six years of my life, some major life events, not to mention a ton of extended family and memories of my childhood make Abilene a lock for the second spot. I think it will always feel like home, no matter how irritated I am with ACU. Thankfully my attachment is to more than just the college.
3. Wherever Abby is. This may sound lame, but bear with me. We’ve moved somewhere around 8 times since we got married, living in Houston proper, Sugar Land, Katy, Denver, Plano, Allen, and soon to be Meadows Place. Since my parents moved from the house I grew up in and we haven’t stayed in one living place for more than two years, calling a specific location “home” seems weird. However, all of those places (and the apartments/homes we inhabited) feel like home to me because I was with her and we were living our lives together.
I bring this up because we’re currently staying in a new house in Abilene, the 9th (give or take a couple, not counting dorms) house I’ve slept in while in Abilene, and I still feel very much like I’m home. The old song “A house is not a home” speaks truth…just because there are walls and a roof doesn’t mean its a home.
There’s a bunch of Christian applications here, and it would be disingenuous of me to wax poetic about them because I didn’t have that in mind when I started writing. A church is not The Church, nice clothes don’t make you a better Christian, etc.
Really, I just miss my wife, but I’m blessed to be in a place that feels like home for the holidays. I hope you all have received the same blessing.
Have a good one.