I searched for home in my mother's childhood bedroom, through family moves and in books that transported me to other places. Over time home coalesced around marriage, pets, and children as life routines and relationships provided belonging. I started a business while caring for an infant, moved north until affordable housing and a yard in Edmonds arrived, and valued walkability. The place drew me in like a lighthouse. I now close one phase and anticipate new projects: a novel, community connections across Puget Sound, and everyday domestic tasks signaling settled life.
For most of my life, I've been chasing home and never really finding it. I'd look for it in my mom's childhood bedroom, her blue carpet holding my big dreams (and endless questions) as I spent summers with my grandparents and cousins. I'd look for it wherever my parents' jobs took them, always following a promotion or the promise of easier access to family.
I married a man I met on a cold December night in 2010, his hand on the small of my back radiating a warmth, a knowing of the safest thing I've ever felt. We adopted a tabby cat and then a six-toed, grey brother for her a year later. I had a baby and started a business while my infant son slept in his swing in front of me, tick-tocking while I responded to emails.
Collection
[
|
...
]