Chapter 12
I used to think home was something I lost.
Something I was never given.
Something I had to live without.
But I was wrong.
Home was never just a place.
It was never just the people I was born into.
Home is something you learn.
Something you build.
Something you choose.
It is in the moments where you feel safe enough to exist without pretending.
In the spaces where your voice doesn't feel like a burden.
In the presence of people who see you… and don't look away.
I started to see it differently.
Home wasn't behind me.
It wasn't something I had to return to.
It was something I could create.
Piece by piece.
Moment by moment.
With people who understood me.
With people who chose me.
And maybe,
For the first time in my life
I wasn't searching for home anymore.
I was becoming it.