{home}

Since graduating college my life has been quite unbalanced. My grandmother died, I missed my actual graduation, I had to say goodbye to my second family at KMEG, I have to say goodbye to my church family, and lots of STUFF is happening. You'd think I would be crushed and defeated and bleh.

I'm not.

I'm typing this post while sitting at my grandparents' dining room table. The table they've had for as long as I can remember. The one that only fits four, but you could squeeze in three or four more with some mix-matched chairs.

For the first time in twelve years...

I am home.

It's hard to put into words how it feels. But let me give it a try...

It's that feeling when you finally sink into your own bed after weeks away, sleeping in hotels. That feeling of pure comfort and peace knowing this bed waited for you and you longed for it.

Maybe it's more like that feeling you get when you've been away at college and you finally get to sink your teeth into your favorite home cooked meal. That moment when nothing else could satisfy your hunger except that one thing and you actually have it.

That moment when you only have one puzzle piece left and it fits perfectly in the one hole left in your beautiful puzzle.

Fort Walton Beach is my missing puzzle piece.

It's the beach and the bay.

Sand in between my toes.

It's courage I don't have anywhere else.

Creativity and the desire to try new things.

Dreams and passions and memories.

It's everything I've missed for twelve years.

​And now it's mine.