It doesn't take much for many to realize that home can be more than a house. For many, home is a person, an atmosphere, or a state. Home can be anything. Home can be whatever, whoever, however you feel safe and secure. These days a lot of people do not feel safe or they have found themselves lost and in search of some unknown treasure. It is my hope that no one ever loses sight of their home and that sense of security and comfort. It is my hope that for anyone who never had that in the first place or those who have yet to find that person or place of safety, that they will find their homes soon. Home is something that shouldn't be forgotten or misplaced so I would like to spend some time pondering over what makes me feel at home, over what home is like.
For me, home is an accumulation of things, but at the heart of it, my home is a feeling. My home starts with smells. It smells of a fresh brew of coffee and of cleaning supplies. Of some type of freshly cooked dessert and the beach. It also sounds. It sounds like a vacuum and like vegetables being chopped up. It sounds of my dog's footsteps and my dad coming home from work. It also sounds like my grandpa's stories, my brother's video games, the flip of a page, and a wave breaking on a shore. It looks like natural light and clean counters and yellow. It looks like sun spots and a cat draped along the back of the couch. It feels like wood floors and bare feet and warm shoulders. It feels like sandy toes and a small smile and my sundress grazing against my knees. It feels like my feet tucked into converse. It is peace. It is clean, fresh air. And it is an endless possibility.
That is my home, that is what comfort is to me. Your home could be entirely different. So, what takes you home? Does vanilla strike a chord? What about spices or hair supplies? The sound of city streets or crickets? Loud or quiet television volume? Think about what means comfort to you, what puts you in a familiar safe spot. What takes you back to the feeling of being happy and comforted and safe? If you cannot, for any reason, remember a time such as that or if nothing makes you feel that way, I would suggest trying life out for a bit and finding the things that make you feel safe. Find all sorts of sounds and sights and make a collection. Go to that collection, go home, whenever you need to feel safe in this crazy, chaotic world. Even if you cannot be there physically, use that imagination and beautiful mind of yours. Find your way home.