John & Katie's England Adventure: I Feel Home.....

Dinner with the fam at Dad and Rhonda's

I have been fortunate enough to live a life where home has always been a safe and welcoming word. It is something I’ve known over the years, but never put a lot of thought into. And through this year of being in another country and away from home, I have found an invaluable (and unexpected) opportunity to have time to gain further perspective on what home means to me. Through my trip back to the States, I have realized that home is not necessarily a physical structure of a specific house or even a specific town. But it is a feeling. It is comfort in people you know and love, familiarity of places and doing. It is the general day-to-day, being 100% yourself, connection to others and most of all, love. So I was humbled and beyond excited to be able to have an entire week devoted to these things. So in that week of being back with my family in Wisconsin, here are some highlights of what makes home truly home to me:

Making bread at Grandpa's with Aunt Jane

- First and foremost, seeing my family

- Spending a day at Grandpa’s Skroch’s house cleaning hats, eating comfort food and getting a 93 year old man set up on skype

- The cabin, a physical structure that represents home. Waking up to the most beautiful colors over Sand Lake in the early morning. Standing on the dock looking out over the lake. Heaven.

- Making Grandma (and Mom’s) homemade bread with Aunt Jane

- Spending a day enjoying every second of being an aunt and uncle to Adrian and Amaia – that includes lunch at McDonald’s, lots of sword fighting and doing underdogs on the playset

Uncle John with Adrian and Amaia

- Being able to meet, play with, and put to bed Sophia while in Madison

- Spending a day at home while it’s snowing outside with my bestie Emily and her baby Turner

- Spending Halloween with The Mohr’s eating the most amazing chicken dumpling soup

- Dinner with the family at Dad and Rhonda’s house – always more than enough food

- A couple hours of hot chocolate and catch-up time with my fellow K. Mohr

- Breakfast pizza at Main Street Café, lots of cheescurds and Bloomer Bakery

- Going to the Bloomer Rec Center to take a Zumba class Mary rocked at teaching

- Staying up way too late, hanging out and chatting (done multiple times throughout the trip with multiple people!)

Ahhhhh......the cabin!

After spending more than a year away from what I know as home, I was lucky enough to get the chance to go back and visit. And to be honest, it was the best week home I’ve ever had.