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Pennsylvania…again.

I don’t really know what it is about PA that keeps drawing me back to a place that is so far from everything I have ever known. I feel like I belong there. I feel connected to the people. I feel like I am at home. That feeling has not been attached to a place in a long time. Probably ever.

You see, the longest that I have stayed in one place was 6 years when I was growing up. Home was always where my family was or where the people that I love live. It was not a house or even a town. Since being back in California and being able to reflect I have come to the conclusion that constantly moving while growing up has affected me more than I thought.

I am a serial mover.

I love the thrill of finding a new place to live and new things to do. It is exciting to explore a new area that I have never been to before. To find the local hot spots and learn how to get around on my own. I used to feel bad for it. You know, moving to a place for a couple years and just when I am getting deep into friendships and creating a community… I up and leave.

Not all of it is because I have some issues with commitment (a talk for another time). That is definitely part of it and something that I am working on in my own life. Hence, the move back to Pennsylvania. Part of me just likes creating communities and then knowing that I can leave and still have those communities and support systems for life. I can always come back to them. I can always lean on them if I need to. It is a very comforting to know that the people I love are going to be there for me.

To visit. To love. To vent. To cry. To laugh. To learn.

But then again, I think what is missing from my life is the experience of really investing in a community for an extended period of time. I have never lived in an area and really got involved where I was living because I have never stayed there long enough to do so.

Enter Harrisburg, PA.

I am going to do it. Invest in a community. And what better community to commit to than the one in Harrisburg. It is small. I already am involved in and love 2nd City Church. I have a community group that I go to and I love them dearly and can’t wait to get back into that. There are lovely restaurants, coffee shops, and organizations where I believe in their mission and way of doing things. So, why would I choose any other place?

Harrisburg is home. The first home that I have had in a while. The first place I felt like a grown-up. The first place where I could really connect. The first place that I realized that God was still with me. The first place that I learned to truly love myself as the person that I am. Not the person people expect me to be.

The first place that I felt like…..me. And that is always the better choice.

Peace,
Celisse

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