Victor In Arduis

Dear Parents, Family, Friends,

If you have followed along with my writing and its progress, as well as my personal progress as I have tackled my first few years of college you will see that while these past years of my life have been ever so challenging they have shaped me into in all honesty someone that I am so proud to be.

With that being said, I have written and talked about my struggles with home and family multiple times, given speeches about how important community is to me time and time again. Once again I write to you as I have done something that will forever leave a mark on me to help me recognize who I am and how I have become the young man I am today.

#McConnellvstheworld, a simple hashtag created by one person that I look up to in this world as much as anyone, and have since he used to throw footballs in the backyard of my grandmothers house higher than I ever thought possible.

While I have become who I am today through experiences and times on my own I have only had the ability to grow and become that person because of the people I have around me. My family is my everything. I sat/stood on the beach in January remembering one of the most influential woman I have ever had in my life I looked back at a house that was filled with many of the most important people in my life.

I wrote about how my home was with the people that truly meant the most to me. That remains true. But my family is something that could never be topped. I grew up in Florida and it is still a state that till the day I die will have a special place in my heart. But in that moment on the beach in Indian Shores, Florida I realized that there was something more important to me than a state.

For about a year now I had planned on getting a tattoo, I don't know why but I knew I wanted one. For the longest time I thought I had wanted it to be something signifying the state in which I grew up in. However I was wrong, because the only reason I wanted it to be that state was because it was where my FAMILY had been for so long.

So I changed my mind, quietly of course, I realized that it wasn't the state that I wanted to have with me when I needed "Victory In Adversity", it was my family. 

So on Friday, February 21st I did it.

Now when ever I face a hard time all I have to do is look down to see how I can get through anything, because I am a McConnell.

Mobile Home

I was asked recently what I considered home to be. And almost as if I had rehearsed it I said that "home was where I felt had shaped me into who I am and where I will always feel welcomed and at peace." For much of my life even if the actual roof over my head wasn't there I considered Florida my home.

However, over the past months and arguably year, I have realized that home does not have to be a singular place. I now know I have many homes. I have a home in Orlando, FL, I have one in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Ada, Ohio, Troy, Michigan, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan Redondo Beach, California. Just to name a few.

Home has many definitions and synonyms, household, dwelling, condominium. The definition that should be focused on, A familiar or usual setting, a congenial environment sometimes gets lost.  Home can be where ever it is needed.

The places I stated above are not places I have lived, some of them are places I have never even been. But what I do know, is that in each city I have people who care about me. Home is not a structure not a place. Home is a people.



Over the past week, I have seen and spent time with family I had not seen in months. And it was back in the state I considered home. But, that wasn't what made this vacation so important or enjoyable to me. Being surrounded by the people you care about is what makes our lives and our time so worthwhile.

I watched as my parents, aunts, and uncles journeyed down memory lane with life long friends sharing stories that will stand forever. And while these friends and stories originated in central portions of Florida the tales would be told and the laughs would be shared if the meeting was taking place in a frozen tundra.

In life we all face hardships and struggles, we also reach new heights and joys. We do not rush to a building to share in those, we run to a people. We run to those we care about and that we know care about us.

So my question is not, where is you home? but, who is your home?