home is not where you live but where they understand you.
-christian morgenstern
i looked up the word home on dictionary dot com and found that it can be used as several different parts of speech and due to that, has 31 meanings.
the first definition is probably what most of us actually associate the word with. a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household. wouldn’t you agree. in most cases, if you say “i’m going home” you mean that you are going to the “house” where your bills find you. the address on your driver’s license.
but when i started thinking about what home means to me, my address had nothing to do with it. i remember when i was pregnant with jonah, saying
“i am moving back home with my parents”. i don’t think now that i ever thought there would be a day when my parents house would no longer be my home.
home is not my country or my state. and although when i am “going home” it is always to the same address, my home isn’t a place. it’s the people waiting for me there. the people that (despite any mid-life crisis and need for friendships… haha) i choose first. the ones that i would rather be with over anyone else.
the teeth aren’t always straight. the pictures are often blurry. the dog smells a little. heck, the boys even smell a little. the food isn’t always great. and the laundry is rarely done. but there is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS love. and that, right there in the middle of it, that is home.
to read about several other perspectves on “home” check here
