No Place Like Home

Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, said it right, there truly is no place like home. I have been thinking a lot about home since the loss of my mom.

The other day I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, in each episode, I find something new that I learn or even just something that I truly enjoy and have that moment of, yes!  In one of the recent episodes, they were discussing the theme of Home. What is home, what makes us feel at home? Is it the physical location or is it something else? 

I’m sure that many of us know our answer to that question without having to really think about it. What the hosts of that podcast suggested for an answer to the question of what is home was that home is not a place but a moment. When I heard that I jotted a note down and just sat there really letting that sink in.

Honestly, that is how I feel and have felt but to hear someone else say it was amazing. I needed to hear that to process more of what we, my whole family, are going through. And, it’s the truth, right? Our physical homes are certainly a place where you can feel relaxed, it is where you have your things, where you can be yourself with nobody watching. But as I think about the times that I feel “at home” it isn’t the physical home that I think of. It is the people and the memories that are wrapped up in that feeling. For me, it is the moment of playing pirates up at the top of trees, the rich taste of your favorite childhood ice cream, the feeling of your child’s hand reaching up to be held, or being held by the ones that you love.

What I have found is that home is the feeling of the people you love and love you.