Home Is Where The Heart Is

People often say
that home is where the heart is
and if you asked me
where my home is
I don't know if I would spout off my address
or if I would say

That home to me
is waves crashing on the shore
and the scent of salt in the air
and worn down buildings
and cement stairs
and the sound of flip flops on gravel
and squeaky doors and broken stoves
and ugly bedding.

Home is where kites fly high above,
where cousins swing on rusty swing sets,
and dogs run.

Home is where all the paintings look the same,
and there's a bell in the little shop,
and when you can just tell when you're almost there,
and you've broken out of the trees,
and the cliffs are coming up.

Home is where reeds slap your legs,
where the water is icy cold.

Home is the start of summer,
and comfort food,
and sodas kept in a cooler.

Home is camp fires
and camping chairs,
and little condos
where the floor always has a fine layer of sand covering it,
and the chairs squeak,
and no one can quite figure out the microwave,
or where they've put the spoons this year.

Home is a little balcony
connected to my aunt's room
where dogs squeeze through the bars from one room to another,
and where I can curl up with a book,
and look out over the waves.

So yes,
while home is the brick house I've lived in,
for my entire life,
home is also on the beach shore
at the start of every summer.

Where I've Been

Ah.

Yes.

Hello.

It's been a while.

Where've I been?

Well, here's a short list.

• Trying to puzzle out my science homework.
• Reading a book.
• Gallavanting on NaNoWriMo and Tumblr.
• Dancing.
• Singing loudly and probably off-key to Imagine Dragons.
• Watching Supernatural.
• Watching My Little Pony.
• Fangirling over the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
• Painting my nails.
• Knitting hats.
• Trying to plan out a new writing project.
• Getting distracted from said writing project, and doodling on my whiteboards.
• (Not) Cleaning my room.
• Lying in a patch of sunlight on my living room floor.
• Working on French.
• Wishing it was summertime again.
• Going through my pictures from summer, and sighing loudly.
• Listening to songs that remind me of summer.
• Wishing it wasn't February and it was (surprise, surprise) summer.
• Excitedly planning out my makeup for comic con.
• Trying to find a pair of socks that matches.
• Sewing a pterodactyl. (I still refuse to believe that I was lied to my entire life, and that they didn't actually exist.)
• Wandering around Ravelry and trying to find something easy to knit.
• Jabbering with my friends.
• Doodling in the margins of my papers.
• Procuring a nasty cold.
• Setting up my fairy lights again.
• Playing with my dog.
• Wishing I was travelling.
• Starting a new semester.
• Tearing my room apart in search of a t-shirt.
• Carrying wood for my dad's work.
• Watching Doctor Who.

So that's where I've been.

The Dandy Lioness