Run Away Home

Sometimes...the back country roads of Fort Atkinson, WI-the ones that are gravel you know, and not paved-sometimes when you're running they smell like cow poop. This is not one of the things that I thought I'd miss when I moved off to college. But here I am. Counting down the days until I can go back to those roads and train on the same hills that I've been running since I was in 6th  grade.
I miss my tiny little town with it's crappy country roads. My heart and soul don't belong running on the big streets of Milwaukee...they belong on dusty, out of town roads lined with wildflowers and grass and corn. My heart simply isn't in the big city right now...and that's why it's not home for me.
I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Truthfully I am in college...I didn't expect that I'd be getting homesick as a soon-to-be senior in college. What's going to happen after my senior year when I don't live with my parents any more? What's going to happen when I move across the country to go to grad school. I only have one more year. AH!!!!!
I think "home" isn't as much about the where but about the "who". The reason that I miss my small hometown is because that's where my family is. It's not necessarily all about my country roads. Home is not defined by  the small ice cream shop and the friendly people who look for runners when they drive instead of making me watch for them. In the end home is defined as a place of belonging. Not just any place of belonging but the place where you belong. I think I'll always feel a sense of belonging to Fort Atkinson, but at the same time, it's not because of the city itself but the people there.
So let's say that I do move away someday. I'm not worried that I'll be homesick. I know that wherever I go, no matter where it is, as long as I'm with people that I love and who love me back I'll be at home. I don't need a specific structure to call home, or a specific town. I don't even need a country. All I really need is a road to run down.