Home is where the books and cats are.

So what do people think of as Home? How do you define it when you move on a regular basis?

When I moved literally every year for the first 6 years after college, "home" was just the label for where my stuff lived. But it didn't feel like a home.

The apartment that I most recently lived in was the one I was in for 7 years; after the first 3 or 4 years, it started to feel like home.

Now? The day I moved in with The Boy, it felt like home to me. It's a mess, it's too small, there's shit everywhere, there's pet hair everywhere even when I vaccuum every goddamn day, the kitchen is basically a hallway with no counter space -- and none of that matters. He's there, so it's home.

(And never ever, for the first 36 1/2 years of my life, did I ever think I could possibly feel that way about someone. I just assumed I wasn't wired that way.)

On a broader level, Cincinnati is home, and it's what I think of as "home" when I'm out of town. Cincinnati is where I know all the rules, how the game is played, even when it's not my game any more.

My throat, cheekbones, and eyebrows feel like they are burning. Bleh. But I am glad that I finally finished the antibiotic from getting bit the other week.

Home is generally wherever my stuff is. Now, when I first moved to Seattle, the sublet I had wasn't really "home" (granted, my stuff wasn't there), and it took a little while for this apartment to be mine, even after all my things were here, but even on a bigger scale, Seattle is pretty "home" now. DC is still "home"-ish....but even in the seven or eight months since I've left, a lot of things have changed. And I don't have my OWN place there, so...it doesn't quite count as "home". And Indianapolis, while I grew up there from 8-17, and my parents still live in the same house? Well, I am vaguely familiar with a lot of it, but not more so than a lot of other cities. I could probably lead you around Baltimore or Toronto nearly as well. Certainly around Seattle just as well. So, dunno that that's more "home" either.

I lived most of my life in and around Chicago and I still think of Chicagoland as home even though I've lived in the same place in LA for the past 7 1/2 years.

Home = my parents' house. Even though I've not lived there for most of 17 years. Not their town, mind - their house.

Then I am going to go see the SatC movie with a pregnant friend.

Just got home from seeing SatC and cried my eyes out through a bunch of the movie. Not sure why it kept pushing my buttons, but damn. I was a hot mess by the time the movie was over.

I lived in Texas for 18 years... don't really consider my hometown home anymore.

I lived in Boston for about 5

Now I'm in Wisconsin.

I think I consider Boston home.

Even though I haven't moved that much, I don't have a Home, either.

Home is Seattle, mostly, though it took me five years to start feeling that way about it. But little pieces of my heart and soul belong to England, Philadelphia, and my tiny little Alabama hometown. As for a more specific place...so far I haven't gotten too attached to any house where I've lived post-college, but I think that's a mistake. I tend to be too transient and not pay attention to the visual details that would make places feel homey, because I'm just a renter and I don't want to do too much work I'd just have to undo.

I have new glasses. I've discovered that the problem with rimless glasses is that the metal bits anchoring the frames keep intruding on my range of vision. The Costco staffer who adjusted the fit for my lopsided ears said most people get used to it, but some people just have to bag it and get new glasses. She was optimistic that I'd manage, because my eyes are reasonably wide-set, but I'm feeling kinda headachey and woozy at the moment. I hope they work out, though, because they're v. cute and flattering.