Until it is missing. Your heart knows what your heart knows and there is nothing like coming home. Lord, it is good to be home even if the gifts given and received in being away were beyond measure. But it’s that cozy comforting feeling within the very soul of your being that I find myself nestling into that very space I left for a wee bit of time. Coming home to sit a spell in all that is familiar. As Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz says as she clicks her red satin shoes together, “there is no place like home.”
What a time with family and friends!! Woohoo. Helping out, holding hands, kabutzing, story telling, walking, playing, driving, celebrating, hugging, listening and laughing, crying and all the in between. The whole gamut of emotions and feelings as I engaged fully in the spirit of love and friendship with those who are in my life. In that I can hardly express my deepest gratitude for the gifts freely given in each person I walked with for a few moments of time over the last few weeks. Walk or talk, sit or stand, best days to hold onto and tuck away in my treasure trove of awesome goodness.
It is so interesting to me how home has such a reverence to it. A sacredness that you feel as you walk through your own door, greeted with the familiarity and contentment greeting you heart and mind. I literally did a little jig, prancing around because I could. LOL. Good thing it was only my dog Maggie May with me. She gets me and does not make a comment at all. You got to love unconditional love. Of course, she is in her element too as my youngest and kind hearted sister and family took care of my pup while away. There she is acting like a young pup, jumping out of the truck, taking a quick gander of her yard and then into her home, up and down the stairs, pushing her nose into nooks and crannies….then plops herself on the back of the couch. There…done…all is good for her.
What I find odd and funny because although I was born and raised in Ontario I have always had a home feeling too visiting the Maritimes as that being where my dad was born and raised before trekking to Ontario. Yet, something about his home as my family referred to as ‘going down home’ each summer was truly my second home away from home. And then many many many moons later I find myself retiring in the Maritimes which turns out to be home. Why? Not sure. But when I cross the bridge and see the red soil, it is a rich earthy feeling of it calling me home. Yet, one is reminded that anyone not born here are referred to as from ‘away’. I do chuckle at that.
However, home is where the heart is. A totally appropriate title from a TV series and describes my musings too. They have it right as home comes in different faces and places. My heart is so full when…..Dad giving me a hug, the familiar smell of him. Don’t worry dad it is not a bad smell, just a dad smell. Him telling and retelling tales of old over and over again. Sometimes, I can tell it better. Just saying. And then my mom. Oh my mom. Holding her hand is home even though she cannot squeeze it anymore, so filled with crippling arthritis. Staring at her beautiful face, hoping upon hope, as I visit her at the nursing home, she shows ‘mom’ of her being home to me, albeit so short-lived moments, the smirks, the laugh, the mom look. Oh I so miss that mom. Coupled with the plethora of interactions from the joyful presents of presence as my family and friends gave me a piece of home…themselves.
Wonderfully enough I got to experience homes newly building up and becoming home. From my oldest sharing her new digs after many months of trying to find a rental. Sidebar. What is the ever loving world are landlords thinking to charge crazy crazy!!! And then my youngest getting a much needed change of home and I got to help her organize…tired pup. Moms get to invade homes too. LOL. To my cousin having set up camp in a totally renovated home by his own hands, as he proudly shows his home and created a lifestyle befit for cozy and living life fully. Woohoo to all. And then to a bit of a facelift at my sister’s place, seeing paint bring light within the walls. Literally. That is definitely a yahoo to the woo. Whether the walls of home to the road taking one home or the ever loving feeling of home, you gotta love coming home.
So today home, you wrap yourself around my heart and squeeze the livin’ bijeebees out of me and I feel it from top to bottom, sole to noggin’. Yep. Blessings.
Let us pray for those who are in need of prayers and hope today. Amen.
Karenpondering 