Home Is Where the Heart Is…

What is the definition of home? Some would say a home consists of a roof to keep out the rain, four walls to keep out the wind and floors to keep out the cold. Can it be more than that? Well, apart from the above, “Home” in my definitions are also….

** Where joy is shared and sorrow eased.
** Where the simplest food is good enough for kings because it is earned.
** Where money is not as important as love and kindness.
** Where fathers and mothers are respected and loved.
** Where children are wanted, and also where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick.

As in the above definitions, home is as much a feeling as a place. It is more about people and their feelings than it is about things. But I can’t really say that one is true without the other.

Now I have lived happily in the USA with the one I love for many years. Today I discovered that deep down in my heart I have two homes, the two homes that my mind travels to all at once, and yet separately and distinctly different. I have learned the two places have things in common, things that make a home a special place.

 

My first home is my childhood home. The one that I shared with my parents, brothers, sisters, pets, with good times, and bad. It is the home of my youth where all things were good and even the bad things now take on special and poignant importance. It is a place where I was born, was loved, grew up, first learned of death and sorrow, joy and peace, good times, and bad. The place that I used to play with my childhood friends. Those memories will be forever a part of me.

Now as much as I want to go back to revisit those special feelings of the first place I called ‘home’, going there is not possible. Those times are gone. My parents, pets, and two of my brothers have long since gone to their final home in heaven. I can only revisit those times and almost touch them in my mind, but just like rainbows, I can never quite touch them. But the memories that we shared are always in my heart. Always have been and always will be…

My second home is where my heart is. The place where I am with my special dear DH, wherever we are together is my home. As long as I can hold his hand, feel his breath, and be warmed by his skin I am home.

 

Now, If you are fortunate enough to be living in one of your special homes at this moment, please recognize and cherish it. And remember that a big fancy house with many rooms and gilded furnishings does not make a home. Love, care, and laughter is what makes a house a home. Home is where the heart is…..