Homeward Bound?

"What are you up to for Thanksgiving?"

It's a common question, given that the holiday is now just days away. The conversation usually goes something like this...

I'm going to my 'rents.
"Oh that's fun. Where's home?"
If I could tell you that, I would be able to answer the question that's been haunting me for months now.
Um.... well, my parents live in Maryland....
"But that's not home?"
Well, they moved there a couple years ago. I grew up in Jersey.
"I didn't realize you live in Jersey. I thought you just moved here."
I don't; I did.... I live in Brooklyn; I just moved here in May from Philly.
"Oh, I'm confused."
Don't worry. I am too.

A couple weeks ago I was trading numbers with someone so we could find each other at an event the next day. I recognized his '856' area code immediately.
You're from South Jersey?!
"Yeah! How did you know?! Are you from South Jersey too??"
No, but I lived there for a while.
"Oh, is that where you moved from?"
Sort of.... I moved here from Philly.
"Ah, so you have a '215' area code?"
No.... I used to have a '201' area code, but I just got a '202' number when I got my new phone.
"But that's DC... Girl, you have a story for everything!"
Oh friend, you have no idea.

So tomorrow I'm going to get in the car with two friends from Alice's, and we're going to drive south to the 'rents. On Friday I'll probably pop up to Philly with my padre to check on the house and take care of getting my car inspected and hopefully have lunch with some of my basketball girls. On Sunday I'll drive back to New York with my brother.

Which day will I be "home"? I'm not really sure....

I like to think it's actually a blessing to have so many homes. I mean, some days it's overwhelming. Some days I just want to scream because I feel like I don't belong anywhere. But then again, there's something kind of cool about also sort of belonging everywhere. Maybe it's all in the way you look at it??