Trevor, Kaelyn & Ryatt-
three of my "homes"!
This time tomorrow I will likley be a blur of closet trashing random tossing of last-minute-must-have-articles-of-clothing(which I probably won't even end up wearing) into my already-weighs-over-the- legal-limit suitcase, as I prepare to leave for my quarterly trip back "home" to St. Louis, Missouri- to be with my beloved kids (not kids as in little but as in my twenty-something, taller than me son and mom-of-a-toddler daughter), my precious almost 16 month old grandson Ryatt (even though said daughtermom now often refers to him as "The Devil"), and numerous still-love-me-even-though-I-truly-suck-at-keeping-in-touch friends...all of whom I miss MADLY!
I will be there for 16 days, which on one hand, is hardly enough time to get to spend the amount of time with everyone that I want to, but on the other hand, enough time for me to begin to miss my life/man/dogs/house/routine/weather/art/etc. back home...hmmm, I suppose that I really do have 2 homes...how lucky am I?! I call St. Louis home because not only did I live there for 47 years, but it is where most of my heart lives, in my aforementioned kids, grandson & friends, as well as all of the memories and familiarities created during those 47 years living there...
And I also now call Seattle home because, well, it is where I live, where the home I reside in is, where my soul mate and I share our life, where our much loved doggies live...and THEY are very much my heart as well.
I always get annoyed when people say they are "from" wherever they live...for example, if my mom would say she is "from Sarasota, Florida"...nope, she LIVES there, that is where she makes her home now. But she has only lived there for 7 years. She lived in St. Louis for 66 years. THAT is where she is FROM. In my book, you are not allowed to say that you are FROM anywhere unless you have lived there longer than anywhere else. But even that does not make much sense, really. Because you are actually always FROM wherever you started out at, right? No matter how long you have lived somewhere.
But what about where you call "home"? Mr. Right gives me trouble if I call St. Louis "home", because I don't live there anymore, I don't have an actual physical house there anymore. Home is with him and our doggies, in our house, in our life, in Seattle. But my heart? My heart has many homes. Home with him for certain. Home with my children-wherever THEY may be living. Home with my mom, the same. Home with my friends, who are spread all across this nation-from California to Virginia. Home with the memories of loved ones who are no longer in their earthly lives. Home with dreams and hopes for myself, my loved ones and the world. Home.
According to http://www.brainyquote.com/:
"HOME:
One's own dwelling place; the house in which one lives; esp., the house in which one lives with his family; the habitual abode of one's family; also, one's birthplace.
One's native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one's ancestors dwell or dwelt.
*The abiding place of the affections, especially of the domestic affections.
The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat; as, the home of the pine.
A place of refuge and rest; an asylum; as, a home for outcasts; a home for the blind; hence, esp., the grave; the final rest; also, the native and eternal dwelling place of the soul. "
Yes, I agree with all of these, mostly with *!
So tomorrow around noon, I will be heading home. And I cannot wait to hug and hold and talk with and laugh with and play with and eat with and cry with and snuggle with and read with and shop with and explore with and wtach movies with and go to church with and celebrate with and just BE with everyone I love and miss.
And then, 16 days later, I will return home. And I cannot wait to be back here, with my man & my doggies and our life.
***(SAPPY YET TRUE ALERT!)***
Home truly is where the heart is.
I think I finally understand (and am okay with) that.
Lucky me, my heart is in more than one place. My homes are not bound by walls or roofs or street adresses. My homes reach beyond the actual physical presence.
Just another blessing that makes it possible to be:
Happy Me-Laurie Z!
P.S.
This morning, just moments after logging into my email account, I read an email which was sent to me several hours ago from a Swap Bot member living in the South of France, which literally brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, Kitty. You make ME purr! (http://ohmymassilia.wordpress.com/)
