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What makes a place home?

I was talking with my friend Max just now about where he wants to work. (He wants to be a pilot). He told me he wants to work in the US. I asked him way and this was his reply:

"Because i like it over here. It feels like home for me. The US is the place i spent the most time when i wasn't home"

I asked him how one defines a home and he told me that everyone has their own definition. I asked him what his is and his reply to that was:

"A place where feel comfortable. Where i love to be and have people i love around me"

That short part of our conversation made me wonder, what's my definition of a home? Where do I really call home? What do other people call home? Which prompted this post. I'm just going to spew some stuff out and it may or may not make sense. 

I've realized that I'm not quite sure what or where I call home. If I used Max's definition I'd get different answers. Where do I feel comfortable? Where ever I'm skiing. Where do I love to be? Outside. Preferably skiing. Where do I have people who love me around? When I have my friends around me. My good friends. Using those answers, if I got my friends to ski anywhere that's outdoors that would be my home. Hmm, I'm not exactly sure if that's a home. According to Google home is:

Noun
The place where one lives permanently, esp. as a member of a family or household.
Adjective
Of or relating to the place where one lives: "your home address".
Adverb
To the place where one lives: "what time did he get home last night?".
Verb
(of an animal) Return by instinct
Well then my house is home. According to my friend Tim home is 

"That place you wanna be when life turns to crap"

Then I'm back to skiing. It's the only place where life has only turned to crap once, and that was a learning experience. It was necessary  for me to grow as skier and a person. When life turns to crap, and I can go out and ski, everything gets better. I think about it all the time and it's the place I want to be. According to an old wife's tale, 

"Home is where the heart is"

Well if you take it literally then home is either in my chest or where ever I am. If you take it figuratively  home is where the love is. I'm not sure where the love is. Does it mean where I feel love or where/who/what I love? I don't think I really "feel" the love. I certainly don't feel it at home, and let's face it if I were to die or something my friends wouldn't be sad for long. I think I've only impacted one life for the better and I don't even know her name. I haven;t even done much. I'm just nice to her when I see her in the hallways. If it means where/who/what I love well then I'm screwed. The only person that I can honestly say I have loved is dead. As for where I guess I'd have to say Grand Rapids. I mean I've lived here just about all my life and it's where I have loved my great-granmpa Popie. What have I loved? Skiing, 

So I guess home is anywhere in Grand Rapids where I can ski with my friends. deceased great-grandpa and where my anatomical heart is. Well that's something else.

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