Behind the Pages - Wherever I Find Myself

This story-journey begins and ends in exactly the same place - with me. This is kind of ironic, considering that I have never lived at the same address for more than a year and a half since high school, and I still hold fast to the belief that home is more a feeling than a place.

I have always been the road trip queen, led by my gypsy soul and consumed by my passion for inspiration, wherever I may find it. I believe that writers are required to be a little bit wanderer, and a whole lot free. So I was never that girl who dreamed of fancy weddings and scribbled names for my future children in my notebooks. I pretty much assumed I'd be roaming on my own forever. Maybe with a cat or two.

But somehow the more I travelled, the more I'd find myself leaving little pieces of my heart behind. I wouldn't realize it at the time, but when I went back, there they were, in the hugs of my godchildren or in the sweet sassy smiles of my little buddy Brianna and our rock-star diva friend Skylar. They were all becoming part of me, part of my story.

So I did what any creative gypsy poet would do, and I wrote a book full of poems and stories to share my journey with the ones I keep going back to when I need to remember who I am, and what home feels like.

Growing up, words like "home" and "family" didn't really mean that much to me. They definitely didn't fill my heart with comfort and joy. So I made my own definitions, and my friends, my peeps, became my meaning.

The greatest part of any road trip isn't the destination, it's the journey itself. But more than that, it's who you share it with. I am so very thankful for those who've shared the adventure, filled the passenger seat, or even taken a turn at the wheel.

"I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself." --Maya Angelou