I am a Nomad

I don't remember the details of the moves my family made before I was the age of 4.  I was born in Yankton, SD and I have been told that sometime during my first year we moved to California for a very short stint in the San Fransisco area.  I have no memory of any of that.  I do remember living in Columbus, Nebraska when I was 2 and my younger brother Rik was born. I don't know how old I was when we moved there, but we stayed in Columbus until I was in 2nd grade, so 7?  I lived in Madison, Nebraska from 2nd grade until 5th grade, then it was back to Yankton for 3 years.

By those calculations, I lived in South Dakota for 1-2 years, a few months in California, then 5 years in Columbus, NE, 3 years in Madison, NE, (a grand total of 8 in Nebraska, does that make me a Cornhusker??)  and another 3 years in South Dakota.  Somewhere in all of this, we spent a winter in Fargo, ND (I know, who winters in Fargo????) and I think we had a small detour into Iowa, but I can't be 100% sure on that one.  At the end of 8th grade it was on to El Paso.

I spent all of high school and 2 years of college in El Paso, for a total of 6 years.  I spent the summer after my Sophomore year in college in Saugus, CA - well not the entire summer, just from the time school was out the end of May until The first of July.  July to September of 1988 I was in Provo, UT.  Sometime during September I drove to St. Louis, MO.  Carl and I were married in December 1988 and we lived there until July of 1992.

El Paso was 6 years, California again for a couple months, Utah for a couple months, and Missouri for 4 years.

In July of 1992 we moved to Colorado.  We lived in Colorado Springs until 1994, then we moved to the Denver area.  We left Colorado for Utah in 1999.

Colorado Springs was 2 years, and the Denver area was 5.  That makes a total of 7 years in Colorado.

We lived in Utah from 1999 to 2005.  Another 6 year stint.  We were in Provo for 1 year, and Eagle Mountain for the remaining 3.

In June 2005 we moved to Hawaii.  Ewa Beach, Hawaii to be exact.  We have been here ever since.  (Oh, well, except for that bit where I was going back and forth to Utah every few weeks for work, and the kids started school in Utah in 2006.  That didn't last long, and by October we were all back in HI again.) That is six years in one state, in the same town.  That is a tie with El Paso.  Unless I move in the next few months, this will be my personal life-time record.


This recollection only hits the highlights - the big moves.  I'm not sure if my memory holds the details of all the individual addresses I have had over the years.  The most time I have ever lived in anyone house is - I HAVE NO IDEA!  I am trying to remember, and figure out which house we lived in the longest, and I think... but I am not sure .. it was the 3 years we lived in the house we built in Eagle Mountain, UT.  I think.... I could be wrong.  I think we were in the house my parents built in Nebraska for 3 year too, maybe .... I might be missing something.

I am a nomad.  I pull up stakes so often, a tent might be practical. 

So where is home? Is it onlne? I have had the same email address MUCH longer than I have had the same physical address.  Is it where I started, or where I have lived the longest, where I am now, or where I was when the most memorable events of life occurred? Yes, yes to all of these, and no.

When I think of home, I think of all of these places, and it all sort of blends into one.  Home is where I am, where the people I love are.  Home can be anywhere.  Home is my heart.  If you live in my heart, you live in my home.  Home knows no boundaries, has no zip code, and transcends time and space.  Home is Christmas at Grandma's when I was 7 and home is today sitting at the dinner table with family and friends.

Home is a state of mind, and not a location.  Home is where I belong, and that is with the people I love, no matter where they are. Home is the Gospel if Jesus Christ, that is the same wherever my travels have taken me.  Home is my heart.

As much as I long for roots, I think the pull of the next adventure is stronger.  I dread the actual process of moving, while I anxiously await the opportunity to explore.  There is no eminent move looming in the near future.  I don't know what the future holds.  With each move I have been happy and I have been sad.  I love exploring the unknown, unpacking and setting up in a new place.  I love finding the new library, meeting new people, and learning new things.  I dread the packing and getting rid of unnecessary things.  My heart breaks to say good bye to friends and family, and leave a chapter of my life behind.  The bitter and the sweet, every time, time and time again, over and over.  It never gets easy, and it never gets boring.  I am a nomad, but I am not disconnected , rather I string a line, that follows me from place to place, connecting them all together.  Each new move adds a room to my home, the home I keep in my heart.