The other day Amanda asked me, “Are we going to my apartment today?”

She asked again today.  “Mom, are we going to my apartment today?”

The plan is to have Amanda move into her own apartment in about a week and we’d been talking about getting over there to get that purple paint on her bedroom walls.  We’ve been awfully busy, though.  But the part of her statement that amazed me was that she said “my apartment.”

Wow – She is actually thinking and talking about this apartment as being hers.  That’s progress.  That’s quite amazing.  She’s actually talking about it being her new home.

Home.  What a word.  What a place.

When my husband Ted was growing up, he had lots of homes.  His dad was in the Air Force so they moved quite often.  If you ever have the time, just ask him about all the places he’s lived.

I, on the other hand, lived my whole life in the same city and in the same house.  Only in my senior year of high school did my family move to another house and that was only home for me for a short while as I was off to college and then married soon after that.

My daughter Jillian and her husband live in an apartment in Knoxville.  They are currently in the process of getting their belongings all moved out and put in storage as they will be making their home in the Caribbean for a few years.  They will be packing up their current home to move to a new one.

My daughter Kristen and her husband live in Oregon.  Just today they were looking at a two bedroom apartment to move to and get out of their tiny, one-bedroom city apartment.  They want a home a little out of the big city and with more room.

They say that home is where the heart is.  Home is where you hang your hat or lay your head.  And, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Home is a good place.  It is where your spouse or family live.  It is where your pet dog or cat waits for you.  Home is where you can relax and rest.  Home is arranged just as you like it.  It is where you can be yourself,, forget about your messy hair, dress how you like, and decorate to your own taste.

I have a friend whose husband just came home for good after being overseas in the military.  I bet home never felt so good for him!  I bet it felt great for the whole family!

So, as the pieces get put together this week for Amanda’s move, I pray that she will continue to think of it as “her” apartment and that we can fix it up to be her home.  I hope she finds loads of friends in the other apartments in her building.  I think the day that, after she moves in to her new apartment, she comes to our house for a visit and then asks for us to take her home (to her very own apartment) is a day I’m going to cry.

It’ll make me sad that my little girl has finally grown up and moved to her own home.

And it’ll make me glad that she can go home to her own apartment.  Ya know – the one with the purple bedroom.

just Laurel