Pondering Home

School has been in session for a few months, and they have already been a very emotional and taxing time for most students, and me as well. With Homecoming week being last week, rent checks being written out, groceries being bought to fill a hungry student after a ridiculously long day and after having a visit from the family last weekend, I begin to long for a sense of home and comfort aside blustery ol’ Fargo.

I moved to Fargo this last summer with no job or classes to worry about after doing a two-year degree at a community college and living life how I wanted with so much spare time and freedom. Everything seemed attainable; love, adventure, self-growing and maybe some answers to be found. Moving away from everything I’ve known the majority of my life has made me truly ponder on the aspect of what makes people feel at home. What is it that gives home that feel of comfort and stability? How do we know we are where we are destined to be or where we belong?
After talking a bit with some friends of mine that have lived in Fargo for a couple years, I’ve noticed that most of them have yet to feel at home anywhere. Even going back home it doesn’t feel the same, or it doesn’t hold that special place in their hearts like it did before.

Living on our own, we’re away from the familiar smells of mom’s or dad’s cooked dinners, not having to do our own laundry, not having to shop for groceries or pay rent the first of the month. Even cleaning on our own is taxing with time and money, buying our own household items like silverware or garbage bags and organizing the place to make us feel comfortable. But is it the responsibility that makes it feel less like “Home Sweet Home?” Do the materialistic things we buy for self-fulfillment make us feel more content and all warm and fuzzy inside?
One day will we all feel content; will we feel comfortable under the roof beneath which we chose to reside; what color will we paint the walls to reflect our personal flair? There are so many questions to be asked in the society we live. The answers can be found in the oddest places if any place at all. Of all the questioning I’ve dealt myself these last few months, I’ve come to find that home is wherever you place your heart. It can be back home with your parents and in your old room or can be carried with you until you build the perfect shelf to set it and shine that proud light.

Suzy is a junior majoring in journalism.