I may have been through Phillipsburg just once, as it's not on my customary route to the places I usually visit. I may have to alter that whole situation.

Your bit of introspection caused me to do some thinking. I have been uprooted three times in my adult life: Montana to Minnesota as a newlywed, again within Minnesota 9 years later, and then to Idaho 6 years after that. Now that you've gotten me to thinking about it, family and friends are what define "home" for me, too.

The first two of those major moves were really difficult for me. The first move meant leaving family behind and having to carve out a place for myself in a tightly-knit community where I knew nobody but my husband. The second move was almost worse, as I had finally established friends and had to start all over in an even more-tightly-knit community. The last move was not much of a problem for me, because it brought me closer to my family. But my kids were older, and I think they struggled with leaving their friends behind, and that bothered me.

My husband didn't seem disturbed by any of our moves, probably because he is very much an introvert and places little value on friendships, if, indeed, he has any. Which he usually doesn't.

Although I have many friends here now, I think the thing that really makes me happy is the ability to visit my sister more often than I could when we lived in Minnesota. She and I are quite close, and I treasure the times I get to spend with her. It may be only two or three times a year, even though the drive isn't nearly what it was years past, but it feels closer anyway, if that makes any sense.