What does 'home' mean to you?

[Dan Augusta]

I've been thinking (and consequently, writing) a lot lately about the concept of home, and what it means to different people. So I want to know: what does 'home' mean to you? Where is your home, and why? Is it one place? More than one? Is it specific, like a house, or more broad, such as your hometown? Is there a place that feels just as much or more like home than your place of residence? Is there no place that you would call home? Why not? Should I stop asking questions now? Okay.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thank you in advance.

[Asha Grace Collins]

Home is such a complex word that can have so many meanings. This is going to sound really cheesy, but I think home is where your heart is. Not in the giftshop, entry rug, over-used generic way, but in the way that it makes sense. For a place to be a home it has to be comfortable--some place that you truly love. My home is so many places. I feel at home in small towns because I grew up in one. I feel at home on a farm because it's familiar. I feel at home in the mountains because I grew up in surrounded by them. I feel at home in coffee shops because it is such a familiar smell that reminds me of my grandmother. There is no specific formula that makes a home. It is a combination of safety and familiarity--a sense of belonging and a chance to be yourself.
I hope that makes sense.

[Seth Tillings]

I, personally, have never really felt at all connected to buildings as a sense of home. Home to me is more like where you would want to be at any given time, as cliched as it sounds but where your heart is. or more specifically to me, where my head is. Its a place I think about and want to be. So in respects it could be anywhere.
But even more specifically I don't think of the concept of home as opposed to the company I'm with, for example, I could be practically anywhere with my friends, my family or my girlfriend and in the short or long time I'm there it'll feel like home.
In summery, I feel that the place isn't all that important compared to the company you share it with.

[Johanna]

I have been thinking a lot about this question lately, too!
Especially: how do you build a new home when you move out from the place you lived for the last 17 years?
I think your home is the place you feel most comfortable at, the place you can always return to.
At the moment my home is at my family's house because there I know and love the people and I can navigate around the house and neighbourhood blindfolded. I just feel content there.
I am confident that there is not just one home, though. I think you can built your own home when you make some effort. By that I mean not just build/buy/rent a house/flat but find new friends and people you trust when you moved away from home.

Maybe "home" isn't a place after all. Maybe "home" is a feeling. Maybe it's the feeling that you should be in this exact place in this very moment and nowhere else.

[AlexTheNerdyOne]

Having my parents seperate I suddenly had this brand new house that my Dad lived in, it wasn't really home. My Mum was terrified that one day I would see his house as home instead of hers but 12 months later having constantly moved between their houses, I see both of them as home. I think you can have one home or ten and love all of them differently, home is where your family is, home is where you feel safe, home is where you express yourself, home is where you live.

[Trick]

When I saw the title of this discussion, I instantly thought of a line from a song I've been listening to a lot recently - "Home is only a feeling you get in your mind from the people you love and you travel beside" - and I agree with that on some level. I think that home, for me, is more about where and with whom I feel happy and safe and loved than putting a name on one particular building. Home can be a person or a group of people, and often is.
That said, I do have a place I call home. Because I've had a good family life so far, the house in which I live feels like home to me. But there are other places too. I recently went on an exchange to America, and having lived for over two weeks with my host family, their house feels like another home to me. I tend to make emotional connections with places based on the memories that I have there, and so there are any number of places that feel like home to me.

[OmfgILoveIt]

My home is somewhere I can just feel comfortable in and somewhere I belong. I quite often find myself calling the internet home now, because that's where I can truly be myself and I am surrounded by friends. I also feel like I am going home when I visit family. I grew up without them and it just feels so natural and relaxing to be with people you are close with. So for me, I guess that home is anywhere I can be myself and feel truly happy. (Sorry it sounds so cliche, but it is!).

[Winona]

'Home' is a very complex word. I don't connect 'home' with any particular place such as the flat I live in or the town I live in. For me, home is where I feel safe and can express myself. I think 'home' is where I want to be at a specific moment because I know that when I'm there I feel good and I feel like I want to be there. If I were to live somewhere and I wouldn't be happy about the place I am in I wouldn't call it home.

[Captain Jacqui Sparrow]

My home only exists in my dreams. It never really existed, but at least I know it can't really go anywhere. I know my own head better than anywhere else.

[E_Lewis]

Home is where the heart is. Home isn't a specific place. Sometimes it's not a place at all. A point in time. A memory. The people you love. Home is where you feel the love. Home is where I feel like I belong.

[Dan Augusta]

Thanks to all who've given their thoughts on the matter so far. But NEED MOAR RESPONSES, PLS, so...bump!

[Vondell Swain]

Home is the place I live and identify with at any point in time. It can change. Home will be the college dorm I stay in, then wherever I move from there. Though, for a while I'll probably still use "going back home to visit" to mean "going back to Dayton, OH where I used to live with my parents" even though I don't technically live there.

[Erica]

Home is a place you can go to for safety and comfort. It is a 'sanctuary' of sorts for both heart and mind. It is why people generally feel violated when someone breaks in. Currently my home is my bedroom. It's a place I can feel safe from scorn and pain of this world. It's my own little hidey hole, even if I have to leave for food and other necessities.

It's here I go when I can't handle the outside world any longer. It's where I go to ready myself for the outside world. So I guess the saying 'Your home is where your heart is.' Is true in come sense.