Home Sweet Home

If you know me then you are probably aware that I've recently made some big life changes. I just moved across the country. I recently started my first "big kid" job after college. I just spent 10 days in Israel.

Suffice it to say, I'm all over the place. I feel a bit like my compass is spinning. If you follow your compass and it always gets you home, then where does my compass point? Pretty big questions…

Generally home is where your family is. By that standard, LA is an ok spot for me. My big sis is here. We live less than a mile from each other. We are thick as thieves. Of course, the rest of my familial connections are a couple thousand miles away. Brass tacks.

They also say "home is where the heart is." Well … according to that, my home is certainly in NC. In Raleigh I lived a life I loved. I had the best roomies, a great house, a fantastic (underpaying) job with coworkers I adored. My college crew was still (mostly) there. Drinks and dinner every night with a laundry list of lovable characters. Blowout parties and generally good times abound.The list goes on and on.

So, WHAT THE HELL am I doing in LA?

The easy answer was, somethings gotta give. I could have gone on in Raleigh forever, become a "local" and put down some good solid roots. I would have even been happy, certainly content. But THAT would have been pretty predictable. I always said I'd live a big life, get out of NC, see what the world had in store for me. If I stuck in Raleigh I would have done the easiest thing and taken the path of least (no) resistance.

So I did the opposite. I chose to break out. Take a job in a city that I would never have chosen for myself. Uproot, say goodbye to my friends and family and move across the country. Give it a whirl and see what happens. Let's just say, I was feeling pretty pretty cocky. Perhaps a bit too big for my britches, as Grandpa Butch would say.

I arrived in mid-September. The weather is beautiful. The beach is lovely. My sister is excited as hell that I'm moving out.

Oh yeah, and did I mention we're going to Israel?

Lets talk about this for just a hot minute - I took a job and they knew I was going to take off for 10 days just a few weeks after I arrived. It was awesome they let me go. It was even more bizarre they let me AND my sister go. (Did I fail to mention my sis and I work together?)

So I move to LA. I find a place to live. I move in. Then I bail for 14 days of insane travel and a spiritual quest to the homeland.

The whole trip is about introducing young Jewish Americans to their "home away from home" in Israel. They emphasize that we are already a part of this country, that we could be citizens if we wanted. This is our home as much as anywhere on Earth, because it was created for all the Jews of the world. It's pretty intense, and really eye opening. It also adds to my feelings of confusion about where "home" really is. Maybe Israel is home too?

Oi vey. This is getting convoluted.

There's a moral to this story though … the thing I'm really working on at the moment. Appreciate where you are. Respect where you came from. And try to love where you're going (even if you're not sure where that may be)...

*j