AY: Home Is Where What Is?

What does home mean? According to my trusty Apple Dictionary, it can mean “the place where one lives permanently, or relating to the the place where one lives, or a place where something flourishes and is typically found.” As I type these definitions the word that I can’t ignore is place. I find it fascinating that each of these definitions utilize the noun place. It seems as though a place must have something about it that makes people want to define this place as home. In the case of the third definition, it has to do with where someone feels like they are flourishing or the frequency by which they are in said place.

The last few weeks I have been in Minnesota visiting family and friends and this word “home” has come up a lot. Before I even left, my family kept saying, “We are so excited for you to come home!” Once I was there, friends were asking, “How does it feel to be home?” My knee-jerk reaction to them referring to Minnesota as my “home” was one of recoil. “Minnesota isn’t my home. My home is Tacoma!” I thought. My response would be, “Oh I look forward to being in Minnesota.” or, “Oh it is good being in Minnesota.” Making sure to emphasize that I was not in solidarity with their definition of my “home”.

Alas, as the weeks in Minnesota moved on, I began to slip and realized that I was now calling both Minnesota and Tacoma my home in passing conversation. Now, I knew I wasn’t suffering from split personalities so I began to think deeper about how I defined home. The main thing that I realized was that my definition of home was very close to the third definition I mentioned. I consider a place home when I can see myself flourishing or by the frequency I am in a place.

I know that Tacoma is a place where many people flourish but I have to ask, “What is it that Tacoma does to create this place where we can flourish, learn and discover?” Parker Palmer says that the key to discovery is creating a place where obedience to truth is practiced. This is an interesting definition especially when applied to a postmodern worldview that refuses to believe that there is absolute truth and often recoils, as I did, to the thought of obedience.

Much of the truth I have learned has been through various conversations at Black Water, The Parkway, Urban Grace, etc. I think that we encounter truth when we are in a place that we know, and in which we are known. These criteria for me begin to tear down the walls of protection I tend to put around myself. I am grateful for being in a community that I know well, but also in which I am known for more than just what I do, but who I am.

I can say without a doubt that I call Tacoma my home because of the people I have met in the few years I have been here. If it weren’t for places like Black Water, the Parkway, Urban Grace, etc, I would not have met the people I choose to call my family, nor would have been challenged to grow and flourish. I believe strongly that one can only flourish if on the path to self discovery. I believe the only way to discover one’s self is through community and relationships. I look at community as a mirror that reflects back to us our true identity. So, I want to thank you Tacoma for being that for me.

In what ways has Tacoma been this for you? In what ways does Tacoma create spaces where people can flourish, learn, discover and practice truth ? What ways does it fall short?