The Oxford-English dictionary defines home as “The place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.” Typically, when asked where one resides, the majority of people would generically respond a state, a city, a neighborhood, or a street address.
I was lucky enough to live in places that fit perfectly into that simple definition, but I was undoubtedly luckier to have found home in an infinite number of slightly less conventional things, places, and people. A year ago, I found myself moving from a place where experiencing all four seasons in one day was the norm, to a place where palm trees meet sandy beaches and the sun shines on all hours of the day. In that time of change, I started to reflect on what home really meant, and realized I stumbled upon dozens and dozens of homes. If I were to offer up my own definition, it would look a little something like this:
I found home on the swings of my elementary school playground, in a foggy 6 a.m. Chicago skyline, in blasting overplayed radio music out the window of my best friend’s bug, in the warm smiles of baristas at a local coffee shop, in the excitement of waiting for the curtains to open on my high school auditorium stage, in reminiscing with old friends over a crackling bonfire, on the rooftop of an abandoned building overlooking the silence of suburbia, in late-night talks in the hallway of a smelly college dorm, on the sidewalks scattered with gold and fiery colored leaves during autumn, in never missing a Harry Potter marathon on TV, in teary-eyed laughter over inside jokes, in the unified pride at a Friday night football tailgate, in the thrilling yet sweaty mosh pits of my favorite bands, on the floor of a secondhand bookshop, in watching the snow thicken early morning before being tainted by dirty tires and noisy snow plows, in an engaging conversation with the tour guide in a foreign city, in roller blading down a forest preserve on a humid summer day…
And that’s only naming a few.
Going back to that definition, it took me a while to realize that home is anything but permanent, and it doesn’t have to be a structural setting consisting of four walls and a roof over your head. It certainly isn’t something you spend your whole life searching for, because new ones appear with each rising sun, and old ones are shed as time goes on. I’m not saying that definition is inadequate and should be rejected, but rather that there is much more to be added on to it. It is in those things, places, and people listed above that I made my definition whole. Above all, I think it’s very important to have people to do life with, otherwise the experiences aren’t half as fun, and I’m grateful to have that in my life. Call it a cliché if you want, but I stand by my definition. And no matter how similar or different yours may be, I hope you can craft your own meaning out of that one syllable word as well.
