I carry my home with me. 

I've always lived in the same house. It’s a peaceful place, we know all our neighbors, and our furniture rarely changes. As a child, I had a wooden desk with three drawers on the left side. It became a well-loved place of hoarded objects, brimming with not only papers but pebbles, keys, Post-its, and spare parts of various broken electronic devices. I’d sit there for hours, doodling in a spiral notebook as songs from my dad’s music collection blared out of speakers on the hand-me-down computer. 

My childhood desk was a home, and my current desk is even more so. Over the years, these tables became safe spaces, places I go to escape into my thoughts. The safe spaces followed me to university, too, and even though this is still a fairly new place for me, I’ve quickly found certain comforts. My desk is equally cluttered, and my closet is organized the same way. My bed is framed with fairy lights and polaroids, and my violin sits under it for easy access.

Home is where I was raised, where I learned to speak, write, and draw. But home is also my lights, my bike, and the school radio station. Home is fluid, traveling back and forth between people and activities, writing papers on Sunday afternoons, sipping black coffee on Monday mornings when alarm clocks beep before even the sun awakens. It’s the memories of the adventures exploring my neighborhood’s steep hills with my dog, followed by the feeling of satisfaction when we returned to the house. It’s my favorite novels, my family and friends, my junior year English classroom that I sometimes still miss, and it’s also huddling together sharing stories on the bottom bunk of our triple room at unearthly hours of the morning. 

Before college, I always lived in the same place—my house has been static—but my home became fluid. I love adding to it as I grow, and I’ve become the kind of person who's always open to something new. Though my home is already in so many places, I have endless room for new ideas, adventures, people, and more.

“Home” is something waiting to be created, and I am so excited to see what else is in store.