Home

Well, after three weeks in Denver, I finally made it "home" to Berkeley on Thursday night. My travel wasn't without its adventures, sitting in the airport in Denver for three hours (because Southwest airlines doesn't let you fly standby on an earlier flight without paying a lot of extra money) so of course I found the bar in the terminal and enjoyed a local beer (something called Colorado Amber, nothing too exciting, no New Belgium, that's for sure). Once I got on the plane it wouldn't be a direct flight, so a stop in Las Vegas was necessary ... it's a crazy place to transfer planes. Large crowds of people waiting for planes, slot machines ringing in the background, and unfortunately a long wait at Sbarro, so I didn't get a chance to grab anything to eat. I did arrive in Oakland a bit early and event after waiting for my luggage (for what seemed like forever) I was able to catch AirBART and the BART in perfect timing (walked up to each of them just in time) and got to meet my lovely wife waiting for me at the North Berkeley BART station.

"Home" is an interesting concept for me anymore. I still think of "home" as Minnesota, I guess because I haven't lived anywhere else as long as I lived in Minnesota. But I also find myself using the word "home" to refer to anywhere I live. When I was in Denver I would refer to the house I stayed at as "going home for the night". Here in Berkeley I talk about our apartment as "home". When we lived in Tennessee, our house was most definitely a "home".

So what is home? Is it, as the old adage says, "where the heart is"? But if that is the case, then is home where your treasure is? (read Jesus words in Matthew, "for where your treasure is, there your heart is also") Is "home" a place, a state of being, a place with a certain relationship?

I can't say I have the answer to my question, but I do know that for now, I am "home" and getting ready for another semester of learning! Maybe part of that learning will be learning what "home" really is.