Home Where My Heart Is

byroxydog1312

1.4K followers

5 years ago

It seems cliche to talk about home being where your heart is, but it's so much more than that. A few short words cannot do the feeling any justice. It's like applying the word "LOVE" to that feeling you have for the people in your life, but it just doesn't seem like an adequate word to cover all the emotion and depth of feeling you have for that person. Well, as you read this article, I want you to see my home, where my heart is.

What is "Home"?

Home is more than just four walls and a roof. More than a functioning HVAC system, hot water, and nice bathrooms. Here is what defines "Home" to me:

People: Home is where my favorite people live. Home is where my husband tells me about his day and serves up an after-work drink. Home is when the kids are here for the holidays and we all sit down around the table to have a meal together. Home welcomes people. Home encourages you to stay awhile. Home is where you can talk about whatever is on your mind, and there will be people there to empathize and be there for you, and in turn you can be there for them.

Comfort: Home is where you can let your hair down. Home is where you take off those tight clothes and put on something more comfortable. Home is where you can put on your ugliest pair of sweat pants and lay on the couch with all the pillows. Home is a cold drink on a hot day or a hot drink on a cold day. Home is coming in from the snow to a roaring fire and an old pair of slippers for your wool-stockinged feet. Home is coming in from the hot summer heat to the cool, dim stillness under the leafy trees, where the cool breeze wafts the curtains.

Being yourself: All day long, you have to be out in public, and you have to be nice to people even though they certainly aren't nice to you. At home, you don't have to act. You can just be. You don't have to worry about what you say or how you say it, because the people at home know you, and allow you to be you.

Creative outlet: Home is where you feel the most comfortable with your ideas. Home is where you take a bunch of mundane materials and create works of art from nothing. Home is where I write, cook, craft, and design. Home is where I grow flowers in the dirt, and make useful and beautiful objects from junk.

Security: Home is where we can show our most vulnerable side, but know we are safe and warm and secure in our knowledge that we are loved and needed. Home is where you can feel safe from the world outside. Home is where you can shut out the weather and the darkness of night. Home is where the bad is kept out and the good is kept in. Home is where we seek refuge from the rest of the world.

Pets: When I think of home, I think of our dog Zoey. Ask my husband: when we are pulling into town after a long road trip, I will always say, "Zoey will be glad to see us." Zoey is part and parcel of our home, a warm, hairy, slobbery example of the love we feel for our home and each other. Zoey has as much pull on our hearts as any of our children. When I think back on significant happy or sad times, I think of the pets I had at the time and how they helped me through or helped me rejoice.

Pride: Our home is a place we are proud of. We both work really hard, have all of our lives, to create a place where our dear ones can come and seek comfort and refuge. It's not something you will see in the latest architectural magazine. It's a just an old ranch house on a single lane street in a rural town in Colorado. It's by no means decorated fashionably. But it's sturdy, comfortable, functional, and well-loved.

Thankfulness: Don't get me wrong. I know what it's like to have no home to go to. I haven't always been so lucky. And I know there are plenty of people who don't have four walls, a physical place to call home. I guess that's why I am so thankful to have my home, the home I have now.

Home is the Five Senses

Sight: When I see my home as I'm pulling into my parking space. When I see the pictures of my loved ones on every wall. When I see the TV tuned to my favorite show. When I see the candles lit or the lights of the Christmas tree, or the glow of my stained-glass chandelier over my old farm table.

Sound: When I hear my husband's soft voice or his laughter. When I hear the kids laughing and arguing over the Monopoly game. When my favorite piano music is playing. When the washer and dryer are running and the dishwasher is humming along. When the harsh winter wind is muffled by the sound of a crackling fire in the fireplace.

Smell: When I make pies and cookies for the holidays. When I have just cleaned everything and there's a fresh slightly bleachy scent of clean kitchen and bathrooms and Fabreeze on the couches. When I crawl into bed and smell the clean sheets. When we get up in the morning to the aroma of coffee brewing. The faint smell of wood smoke when there's a fire on the hearth. When I have a meal in the oven and it's ready to serve, and the table is set for my whole family.

Taste: When I make a home cooked meal. When we have our evening fizzy drink from our Soda Stream. When we have a beer or a glass of wine after a long day. When I make cookies and desserts. When we have ice cream on a hot summer night. When we make hot cocoa on a cold evening, or have salty popcorn while we watch movies. When we drink a cold glass of water after a hot afternoon of yard work.

Touch: When my house is warm and cozy in the winter, and cool and breezy in the summer. When we sit down after a long work day and feel the comfortable couch cushions and the soft pillows that cradle our heads. When we pull on those soft fuzzy throws that we keep around the living room to cover our feet while we watch TV. When we hug and kiss each other good night.

Home is a Longing

When I travel, all I can think of is home. I get homesick. I just want the trip to end and be home in my own bed, in my own bathroom, in my own kitchen, and in the arms of my husband and loved ones.

When my husband and I are commuting home from our jobs every day, when we come into that last valley before the river crossing, one of us will always say, "Home, home, home!"

When we are away, we look forward to being home. When we are here, we revel in it.

True, our home is a conglomeration of lumber, stone, cement, and metal. But it truly is where my heart is. Where my family is. Where my hope is. Where my life is.