Welcome Home

This weekend was an interesting one for me.

Friday night the East Coast was hit with a pretty devastating storm, leaving thousands of people without power. -- My house included.

And unfortunately for MANY, a heat wave was also making its way across the area as well. It was dangerous and disastrous for many. But thankfully, it was mostly just an inconvenience to us.

It wasn't a very pretty weekend, but I made it through, and I think I got a lot out of it as well.

I was both surprised by how well I adjusted, while also realizing how thankful I am I don't have to adjust any more.

Before I had this little internet community around me, I was pretty isolated. And the people I did interact with didn't always bring out the best in me.

This place has given me the space, the access, and the medium in which I can participate in things that mean something to me. The things that keep me sane. Friends, art, music, information...

It has actually increased my social skills and brought forth a confidence and peace within me to know that there's a whole world out there that sees things like I do.

It's changed me for the better, and I'm so grateful I have it now.

I know I get frustrated that I don't have access to more. That I don't live among the individual's I've found here. But sometimes I forget to recognize how far I've come. My teenage self would have KILLED for this community. She would have broken open so much faster and let the world fill her up.

She wouldn't have felt so alone.

But that's ok. What's done is done. Because that isolation taught me just how lonely people can feel. It gave me compassion and understanding.

Once I returned to society, a friend of mine sent me a text that PERFECTLY illustrates what I learned this weekend. She said Welcome Home.

And that’s that. Home isn't where you live. Home is where you spend your time and where your heart lies.