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

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 

|| 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 ||

|| 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.