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I have been reflecting for a while on the concept of home...

My life has brought me through many adventures... since when I was a kid I have been travelling extensively around the world, living in different countries, learning about different cultures, experiencing different lifestyles.
In every country where I have been I made amazing friends and I always felt welcome to come back at any time. There are very few places in this world I haven't been to.

One of the questions I get asked most frequently is: "What is your favourite country?"
I don't have an answer to that...
Favourite because of the culture? Because of the traditions? Because of the landscape?
It is so difficult to pick one over the other...

But the point really is, after having lived in so many places.... where is home?
Because when I travel to Italy to go see my family I always say "I go home"
When I'm in a different country and I talk to my UK friends I always tell them the date "I'll be coming home"
And just last month I said to someone that in July "I would have been home" (and I was referring to NYC)

Last night my flatmate Jenn cooked something with spices I used to taste when I was living in Brazil as a child... and I just felt a strong sense of longing for everything I have experienced while I was there.
Old memories came rushing back in a flash, memories of my entire family together and now, because it isn't that way anymore, I felt that one was the time and place where the concept of "home" was making sense...

So where is home?
And what is home?

I guess home means different things to different people in different times...
Somebody said that home is where your heart is...
I say that "home" is not a place but a state of mind, is where you feel you belong at a certain point in your life. You can have different homes at once... being it a place, a moment, a situation, someone's arms surrounding you, a warm familiar meal, a smile, a smell, a sight...

Home is something that you are familiar with, that you love and that makes you feel safe.
Home is your world, whatever it may be...
Don't put the concept of home in a box, it means so much more than just the four walls of your house!

And for the moment, I am enjoying one of my homes, in Italy, with familair food, smells, sights and the loving arms of my friends and family so tightly wrapped around me!!!