The Journey to Finding a Home

By: Faith Foushee

A sunset in the neighborhood I moved to after college. An evening sunset walk makes me feel at home. Photo: Faith Foushee

Home is a funny thing. When I was growing up, home was a noun: the house my parents raised me in, where I played outside with the neighbors and rode my bicycle up and down the street.

Home was constant. A place to come back to every day with comfort and security.

Then, I grew up and moved a few hours away to a different house. It felt like I was just away at summer camp for a while. But as months turned into a year, the new place began to feel more like home. The shift was subtle. Returning to the house I grew up in started to feel strange, almost like visiting a memory.

On a family walk down the street Faith Foushee grew up on. Each step is filled with memories from home.

So, do I have two homes? Or just one? The feeling was different. Home meant something different.

Now, I’m a digital nomad living in Colombia. Home is no longer a noun.

You don’t have to have a house to experience a home because home is a feeling. Even when it feels like a place, it is the people and experience.

The warmth of friends, the love of family, and the sense of belonging make up a home.

I’ve never visited any place outside of where I grew up that made me want to live there until now.

The realization hit when I went on a weekend trip with friends to the coast of Colombia. In the Uber on the way back from the airport, one of my friends asked: Does anyone else feel like we’re coming back home?

And it did. I hadn’t thought about it until he asked. And I’ve thought about it ever since.

Faith Foushee and parents in Guatupe, Colombia, under a rainbow after a storm. Photo: Heather Price

Home isn’t a person, place, or thing. It’s a feeling of those three things combined. Home is different for everyone. Your home and my home are different. That’s the beauty in it. Your home doesn’t have to be understood by everyone, and it probably never will be.

When you find connection and comfort, and your heart feels at peace, you will know you’ve found home. If you haven’t found it yet, you’re not alone. We’re all searching.

And if you’re like me, there’s not only one person, place, or thing that makes a home. It’s okay if the feeling changes over time.

Keep exploring, learning about yourself, and connecting with others. When you know, you’ll know.