Love List for Labor Day Weekend.

Inspired this weekend, I've made a list of love for my family and for our Labor Day weekend tradition. Cold and rainy or hot and sunny, it was wonderful.

I love :

Waking up and eating breakfast with our giant brood.

Eating with my family, period. SO. MUCH. FOOD. And ALL of it is good!

Laying in the hammock with my brother.

Thinking about past Labor Days on the lake and realizing how much we've all grown up.

Finding moments with each person to laugh and tell them I love them.

The peaceful, exclusive scenery of northern Michigan:

Hearing Sufjan Stevens' lyrics from "Say Yes! To M!ch!gan!" and remembering my roots :

"I was raised

In the place.

Still I often think of going back

To the farms, 

Golden arms. 

Tried to change the Made in Michigan

But I was raised

In the place, 

Part to remind me..."

I don't love the fact that living away from my family is hard. There are moments when I wonder how exactly life led me here, away from them. The truth is, that as much as I love them, Chicago is where I belong. This is where my dreams flourish and grow and connect. This is where my other family is: my husband, his family that has made me their own, the family I made with the people I met at college - my friends who have become my sisters and brothers in another sense.

Will I be here forever? I don't know. Will I ever go back to my small hometown in Michigan? I don't know.

But home is where my heart is, truly. And my heart, although I would not say it is divided, has many roots in many different places all over the globe.

Ultimately, my heart resides in me, with my memories and my thoughts and my endless gratitude for the people that have raised me. So they're in my heart, even when they're not here with me.

And my heart is with them, even when I'm not.