I grew up in a medium size farm town….and I remember, I was ready to get out of there!

I had conversations with both of my kids this week about how they don’t really have a connection to THIS town. And it made me a little sad. Aren’t they supposed to love their home town? I mean, we tried so hard to give them roots, a place to be connected. I didn’t realize how little they connected with the place we’ve called home for so long.

My dad was transferred when I was 16. From Lubbock to Houston. At 16! I went from driving on farm roads to driving in big city traffic. I got lost my first time out alone and ended up in a funeral procession….on I-45…on the other side of Houston! It was traumatic!

And I LOVED going back home…where my friends were, where my grandparents were, where I knew who I was supposed to be and how to get there, figuratively and literally. Lubbock had these amber colored lights all the way around the loop (that’s a small town term for a big circle to drive around town not through town on). At night, flying in, it was this big amber circle shining in the vast darkness of the plains. It meant you could see HOME from a long way out. And it felt good to ‘come home’. I haven’t lived there since ’76, but it’s still “home” in my mind. It’s where my roots are…part of what made me who I am. My home town.

Maybe that’s the problem. That was my home town AND it was HOME. But those are different. HOME was my grandparents’ house. HOME is where Fred is. HOME is where I’m connected. Not a city…but a place of my heart.

I guess I needed to have that conversation…about the city. So I can be grateful that they come HOME to see me…I thought there was a lesson maybe that I failed to teach them…But perhaps it was a lesson I needed to learn myself. HOME is different from hown town. One is where you live. The other is where you LOVE. And it doesn’t matter if my kids don’t feel connected to their home town as long as they know where HOME is.

What about you? Do you like your home town? Where’s your HOME?