In honour of Refugee Week Scotland 09 (15th – 22nd June 09) I’m thinking about what home means to me and asking you to do the same.

This is my husband D. We’ve been together for seven and a half years, married for six and a half.

I’ve always been a commitment-phobe and have perpetually itchy feet. I’ve never felt settled in one place, whether that was one job or one city. I always looking for the next place to go, the next thing to do. As yet, I’ve had no desire to settle down.

The thing is, being married is not the same as settling down. We’re childfree by choice (although we do love our cats), we rent our flat and one of the things we share is the urge to keep moving. Now we both have someone to keep moving with.

Having a partner in crime, a soulmate, makes the world a more beautiful place because I see it through someone else’s eyes as well as my own. Home is not a place. Home is anywhere with my husband because I’m safe and loved wherever we go together.

This is Lisa, my best friend. We’ve known each other for eight years and I knew as soon as we met that Lisa was someone I would feel close to, someone I could really trust.

Weirdly, we went to the same school but were a year apart. Then we went to the same college but were studying different subjects. We knew the same people. We’d been to the same concerts. I’m convinced that we met at exactly the time we needed to meet.

Lisa has been there for me through the toughest times of my life and she’s been there through the awesome stuff too. She’s the hardest working person I have ever met and she inspires me constantly.

Wherever we’ve been, whatever we’ve been doing, however far apart we’ve lived, Lisa has been my anchor and just hearing her voice on the phone makes me feel like I’ve come home.

A bloody shower does not mean home to me. But my work does. I adore what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else, so taking photographs is a huge part of who I am. No matter what else is going on, I was always have art and it will always make me happy. Home is feeling inspired to create.

I should mention my parents, who brought me up to feel secure wherever I was because home is not a place – home is the people you love and the people who love you, no matter where you all are at any given time.

If you would like to download a pdf of forthcoming Refugee Week exhibitions in Glasgow, you can do so here.

If you’re on Flickr, you can join the Flickr group and add your own pictures, links and stories.

So…what does home mean to you?

This is an open invitation for you to answer that question in your own blog. Encourage others to do the same. And don’t forget to send me a link so I can read about what home means to you.