Aug 5, 2014

created for a place I've never known...

 photo DSC_0006_zps4d46fa28.jpg
 photo aeroplanecollage_zpsd9c2c893.jpg
I've got my memories. always inside of me. but I can't go back. back to how it was. 
created for a place I've never known.  
this is home. now I'm finally where I belong. 
this is home // switchfoot 
 photo DSC_0039_zps68e8c5e5.jpg
 photo IMG_0820_zpse246a991.jpg photo DSC_0042_zps1bfa74d5.jpg
 photo DSC_0029_zpsd67ce31c.jpg
 photo DSC_0027_zps138018c2.jpg
 photo DSC_0034_zps6fa554af.jpg photo DSC_0025_zpsf83b7d0f.jpg
 photo food_zps0bfb9cf7.jpg
|| the food in the florida? amazing!...and also mostly fried. (from right to left): shrimp po boy, fried avocado taco, grilled tuna w/lobster fennel sauce & smoked gouda grits ||
 photo DSC_0032_zpsddae34d0.jpg
|| stills taken on my trip to pensacola, florida this past may || 

a lot of people think i'm crazy. moving from coast to coast, uprooting from small social circles only small towns offer. why are you leaving home? 

i sincerely believe there is a difference between "home" and "belonging." home is a gift, free so long as you freely receive it. it's not simply a house on a hill or four walls, but memories preserved in the people you choose to spend time with. it is laughter lines on grandparents and aunts who never fail to make you smile, and old photographs of your family tree on the mantel. it is siblings who wake you up early on christmas day and best friends who make it hard to leave. home is wherever the cliche "home is where the heart is" is kept alive. 

belonging, on the other hand, is not freely given. it is something that must be earned, that must be fought for with blood, sweat, and tears. it is enduring the broken hearts and the cuts from the jagged pieces. the misunderstandings and the disapprovals and the goodbyes you never in a million years dreamed of saying. it is the long nights tormented by homesickness and the missing and the tears over people who will forget you in time. but it is the peace that you feel when you know are where God has placed you. belonging is a place when you know you are in His will.  

California is and always will be my home. Florida, is where i know i'm bound
xx 
p.s. i know it's been quiet of late. college packing and prepping and last-minute get-togethers don't allow for much of blogging - for anything really. i'm still writing bits n' pieces {while i'm on the hunt for a blank journal}, though, and if you want to stop by my tumblr or instagram (gracethelavendergirl) and leave a note, I'd dearly love that. 

7 comments:

  1. What will you be studying in Florida, if I may ask? Oh, I know. I'm going to college in just a few weeks and it's so unreal and yet it isn't. But i will always come home to the place that I've always loved. Xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. How lovely! The pictures are beautiful as always and your writing is amazingly eloquent! You are so, so talented!
    -Marianne
    http://lettersfromelinorandmarianne.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I think it's so cool that you're in Florida now. I hope you make lots of new memories there. <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, this is so lovely and really speaks to my soul (having lived in four different countries has made me ask "what really is my *home*?' :) love you, dear! x

    ReplyDelete
  5. The photographs are stunning! You are a great photographer :) I love what you wrote about home, it is so inspring :)
    Love Life Every Day
    everydaybeauty instagram

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love your description of belonging...very true!

    ReplyDelete
  7. first of all those photos... literally perfection.
    second of all, i am so so excited for you and your adventure. you are going to be just fabulous and I can't wait to see where it takes you.

    ReplyDelete