Where is home? Is it where I grew up? Is it where I went to college? Is it where my family is? Is it where my friends are? To me, home is all of those things. It's Madison Lake, MN, where I grew up. It's Mankato, MN where I went to high school. It's Minneapolis, MN where I went to college. It's St. Louis Park, MN where I lived after college. It's Amman, Jordan where I studied abroad and live now.
The idea of home is complex and takes into account people, places, feelings and more. For me, I know that home closely relates to the location of my friends and family. Home also often relates to the feeling of home. For me, these feelings are tied to how I feel and what actions I take in certain spaces.
My homes in Minnesota are spaces my family lives in (often near one of the 10,000 lakes). The times I feel most at home in Minnesota are when I’m on the lake with my parents and friends, hiking up north in Lutsen or wandering the north shore in Grand Marais, when I cook meals with my friends, or curl up with a good book next to a fireplace or lit candle. I also feel most at home when I can access a good kitchen and buy ingredients to cook new recipes. Minnesota will always be home for me.
I also call Amman home.
