Five Minute Friday - Home

I love Friday's.  Not only is the toward the end of my week, I get to participate in my favorite writing challenge.  Five Minute Friday over at Lisa Jo's.  Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back over on Lisa Jo's site and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Here is my best five minutes on:::

Home…

START

Many years ago, home seemed like it ought to be a place.  Somewhere to go, somewhere to return to, somewhere to be loved.  That place for me was always Arizona, with it's cactus, baking hot days, beautiful winters and cooler nights.  I loved the smell of the air after an Arizona thunderstorm and the beauty of the evening sunsets in all their glory and magnificence.  I left Arizona, got married, had children, and still it seemed like that was home, so I came back and felt welcomed here. 
As I aged, I found the heat became too hard on me and made me sick.  I was exhausted all the time and when we had the opportunity to move to the mountains and the snow and the cold and all those things that I never grew up with, we took it with gratitude.  This is a different Arizona then the one that was home for so many years.  Dearly loved nevertheless and home to me now.
As time has passed, and my family has grown, I have come to find that home is not a single place.  It is not  a brick and mortar house.  It is not a neighborhood or a town or a city or even a state.  Home, to me, is more like a web with all these invisible strings that attach me to those I love.  For me, home is family, with all its many faces, with all its mistakes and arguments and making ups.  Home is wherever they are.  Home is my daughter and her family in Missouri.  Home is my other daughter and her family in Kansas.  Home is still in the Valley of the Sun with my many other children and their families that are there.  Home is in Prescott with our son.  Home is in the mountains with our three young daughters.  Home is the web of family that ties us all tightly together.  The sharing, the caring, the smiles, the tears, the laughter, the fears, the anger, and most of all the love.  Home, for me, can be anywhere as long as it is with the ones who mean the most to me.  As long as it is with family.  Home is Love.  

STOP

Now, what would you like to write for just five minutes?  Don't forget to link back up with the rest of us over at Lisa Jo's.  I can't wait to read you there!