Summer mornings. Sun streaming through the curtains. Robins chirping and singing outside. That moment when you have to feel truly lucky to live where you do. This is one of my favorite things about my house, my home.
What makes your house your home? I’ve pondered this. Maybe we should be asking “What makes my home my house?” and “What makes my house my home?” Home is where you go after a long day to rest and recharge, knowing that there’ll be nothing stressful. You can just flop onto the nearest couch and not get up. Home is where you have emotional ties. People associate locations with emotions. We remember places because we felt a certain way there, or we have special memories of that place. This is what home should do for you. Home should make you feel happy, safe, comfortable, etc. Home should bring back your favorite memories.
Home is the building where you’re staying. Home is the place where you rest and recharge after each day. Home is the place where you eat with family, the tasty aroma of turkey and mashed potatoes filling the room. But just like everything else in life, that building changes. When that happens, you feel like you’re leaving something behind. You’ve become accustomed to returning to the same house. You have so many memories of your house that after a move, you feel disconnected. When I moved into my current house, I felt uncomfortable returning to this strange place each day. That lasted until about a month after school started. After new memories had been created. Now, I can’t think about living anywhere else.
Home doesn’t need to be the building, but the people who live there. Several years ago, my family considered moving to Atlanta. My dad had received an offer to teach there. I remember being anxious for the decision. I had finally made some friends at my new school. I had settled into a routine. I knew I would miss my friends, and the house we were living in. But home isn’t the physical building, rather the family that lives there. I knew that I would be home as long as I was with my family. This goes for every person. No matter where you move to, or where you currently are, the building isn’t your home. Home is where your family is. Home is wherever you return to with your family after each day. It doesn’t matter if you live under a bridge, in an apartment, in a suburban house, even a mansion. That isn’t your home. Your home is where your family is. If you live in a suburban house, and you take a vacation at the beach, you aren’t truly leaving home. You’re leaving the physical building that you associate with home. Family is your true home. No matter where you are, as long as you’re with your family, you are home. What makes your house your home? More importantly, what makes home your house?
