I've only lived in Evanston for four years. Just one tenth of my whole life really, but I have finally found a home. And now, at long last, I understand what Dorothy meant when she said, “There's no place like home.”
Home is where your heart is. Yes, it's true. But what does that mean? Most of my adult life was spent, not as a transient so much, but moving around a lot, never making close friends, never settling any one place for too long. Always one step ahead of trouble. A life on the move can be exciting, if you look at it that way. Never knowing where you will land. Never knowing who you will meet, or where you will be next month.
While I enjoy travelling, life on the move can be tiring. You never feel like you can really rest. It's hard to establish traditions, or meaningful patterns. When you are constantly on the go, it is hard to feel a sense of place or belonging. You never really know where you are.
And then, Charlie brought me home. Home to his house on 1st Ave. The home he had grown up in. The home where he learned to walk. Where he learned to read. Where he learned to drive. Such a sense of belonging seemed foreign to me. I couldn't imaging living somewhere for an entire life. Yet something called to me, to my restless heart. The log cabin on 1st Avenue, where generations of Demander's have crawled across green shag carpeting, and countless dogs have scratched their pleas into the kitchen door. Where countless cousins and uncles and babies and pets have measured their growth with smudged pencil marks on the door jamb, marking the passing of years.
You can live an entire life without ever being home. I spent most of my life never feeling rooted, stable or grounded. We were always on the move, Always packing, always leaving. And now, I have a home. A place to raise my children, and they are free to grow, to learn and to leave. And I will always be here when they come back. The home that has comforted so many before me, now comforts me, and my children, and their children to come.
Honestly, I may not always be here, but home will always be here for them and for me. I plan to travel, to see the rest of the world, to explore and to change lives. But I will always come home. Travelling is good for the soul. Seeing the world, plumbing the marvelous depths of creation. But coming home is what nourishes the spirit. Coming homes gives you rest, peace and a sense of place. There really is no place like home.
Travelling just a short distance away can change your perspective. Salt Lake is only an hour away, but it a whole other world away. Much like most places. The distance between them isn't as great as the difference between them. Exploring those differences gives you more than an experience. It broadens your perspective, and helps to develop an appreciation for what you have in your life.
How can you appreciate a home, until you been without one? How can you appreciate your wealth and affluence, until you meet someone who survives in a much different way? And once you've travelled the world, and met a cowardly lion, and a mean witch, and received the kindness of strangers, then when you finally return, exhausted and expanded, you can look gratefully around you and sigh, “There's no place like home.”
Today is a great day to appreciate your home, wherever you are.
Namaste Friends
Home is where your heart is. Yes, it's true. But what does that mean? Most of my adult life was spent, not as a transient so much, but moving around a lot, never making close friends, never settling any one place for too long. Always one step ahead of trouble. A life on the move can be exciting, if you look at it that way. Never knowing where you will land. Never knowing who you will meet, or where you will be next month.
While I enjoy travelling, life on the move can be tiring. You never feel like you can really rest. It's hard to establish traditions, or meaningful patterns. When you are constantly on the go, it is hard to feel a sense of place or belonging. You never really know where you are.
And then, Charlie brought me home. Home to his house on 1st Ave. The home he had grown up in. The home where he learned to walk. Where he learned to read. Where he learned to drive. Such a sense of belonging seemed foreign to me. I couldn't imaging living somewhere for an entire life. Yet something called to me, to my restless heart. The log cabin on 1st Avenue, where generations of Demander's have crawled across green shag carpeting, and countless dogs have scratched their pleas into the kitchen door. Where countless cousins and uncles and babies and pets have measured their growth with smudged pencil marks on the door jamb, marking the passing of years.
You can live an entire life without ever being home. I spent most of my life never feeling rooted, stable or grounded. We were always on the move, Always packing, always leaving. And now, I have a home. A place to raise my children, and they are free to grow, to learn and to leave. And I will always be here when they come back. The home that has comforted so many before me, now comforts me, and my children, and their children to come.
Honestly, I may not always be here, but home will always be here for them and for me. I plan to travel, to see the rest of the world, to explore and to change lives. But I will always come home. Travelling is good for the soul. Seeing the world, plumbing the marvelous depths of creation. But coming home is what nourishes the spirit. Coming homes gives you rest, peace and a sense of place. There really is no place like home.
Travelling just a short distance away can change your perspective. Salt Lake is only an hour away, but it a whole other world away. Much like most places. The distance between them isn't as great as the difference between them. Exploring those differences gives you more than an experience. It broadens your perspective, and helps to develop an appreciation for what you have in your life.
How can you appreciate a home, until you been without one? How can you appreciate your wealth and affluence, until you meet someone who survives in a much different way? And once you've travelled the world, and met a cowardly lion, and a mean witch, and received the kindness of strangers, then when you finally return, exhausted and expanded, you can look gratefully around you and sigh, “There's no place like home.”
Today is a great day to appreciate your home, wherever you are.
Namaste Friends
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