North Carolina

It's more than just a place to visit in the summer.

It's more than just the state my best friend lives.

It's more than going to the beach.

Or seeing the trees.

Or being on the lake.

Or a night out in the Queen City.

It's more than the tanned skin and sun kissed hair.

It's even more than the sweet, smiling faces, loving hearts, and embraces.

Yes, it is all of those things.

Every last one of them.

But it's also so much more.

I know it's not "home".

Not in the traditional sense of the word.

I know it's not the city where I grew up, the town I was born, the place I was raised.

But I never cared for that place much anyways.

It's not the West.

It's not dusty little Logandale, Nevada or Zion Canyon.

It's not Rexburg, Idaho or all of Southern Utah.

It's not large, sharp mountains.

It's not the heavy scent of purple sage in the rain.

It's not Joshua Trees or Prickly Pear, cracked earth or hot sun.

But who ever said you couldn't have more than one home?

Because if I had to choose just one?

I couldn't.

I need them all.

And if home is where the heart is, then home has a thousand faces, is a thousand places, home has a thousand names.

But this is the place of my childhood dreams.

The place of the songs in my heart.

The place I named

"green"

and

"water"

and

"four seasons".

The place I named

"small town feel"

"warm weather"

and

"not here"

I've found it.

The place I've been looking for, the one I've been waiting on.

And it's better than I ever did dream.

So one day,

when I have a driveway and an address,

a mailbox and a front door -

One day when I have a back porch and a green lawn,

a new last name and a house full of kids,

this is it.

This is the place they will be.