As we're reaching the time of the year where many of us either go back 'home' or put effort into spending time with loved ones, I've begun to examine what exactly the word 'home' means again.

I feel like most of the time, we write off the word home as 'wherever your loved ones are' or the place we spend the most time in. It's something people take pride in. It's a word that translates to love in many cases and, beyond that, can mean safety. The one place that a person can be their full, complete self.

And it's a word that can hurt - cut deeper than any other. To a family, a child saying their home is somewhere else is an emotional cut that is hard to undo. I will admit, I am guilty of saying my home is at college - that I want to 'go home' when we're in the middle of winter or summer break. The pain it caused my family is heartbreaking to me even now.

So what does the word mean? To some it's the obligatory, 'I grew up here', word. To others it's synonymous with the words 'I love you' or 'this is where I feel safe'.

My thought is that we're trying incredibly hard to pin down one place or one group of people and label them with the word 'home'. As if a person can have only one home and everywhere else must be lacking in some way. I believe we can have multiple homes - all of which mean different things, all of which offer different experiences.

I feel that to pull down a place we live in and place it at a mentally sub-par position, we inevitably make ourselves less comfortable there. I spend approximately eight months at college. I don't feel like it is my home in the same sense that the home I live in with my family is my home but nevertheless I do label it as such. I do have a home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with friends and a room that I put a lot of effort into making a positive place to relax in. I have a home in Fort Collins, Colorado where I have a house that is familiar with people I've known my whole life surrounding me.

I've also had homes that were in classrooms, homes that were in study rooms with specific groups of people, and homes that were in lobbies. These are places I feel comfortable in as well as places where I am productive, happy, and creative. They fade in and out, depending on the amount of time I spend there but I consider them homes as well.

I love making memories in these places, I love all the different groups of people that are present in them, and I do believe the word home is synonymous with love. And, like love, it can simultaneously exist in many different places, in many different circumstances, with many different people.