At the end of every day there is one place that everyone goes before the start of the next, what everyone calls home. For some that’s the side of the road with tents and tarps for shelter, while others who are more lucky have a roof. What’s often overlooked though is that it is just a shelter, so why we call this home is a wonder.
Driving to Seattle onlookers can see all the garbage and shelters built by the homeless, the place where they live their daily lives. People say a home is where you have warmth and shelter, but do these necessarily have the warmth that is so suggested in one? There aren’t many experiences where I have seen people outside of these shelters, but those that I have seen have shown me that they are there with other people, just like those in bigger shelters. This makes me believe that the people you share the space with is what makes a house a home.
When I often think about my home, I think of my family because of the love and support they provide me. Lately thoughts of going away to college have made me sad because I would have to leave them, but at the same time I’m excited because I could always come back again. As I say this, I realize it’s my family and friends that’s my home because where-ever we are, our love still stands strong.
Reflecting on this, it makes me think about when my grandparents moved away, and the twelve houses I’ve moved back and forth too. Every time I get sad because I’m leaving the house that I’ve lived in for so long, or my family is moving away where I wont be able to see them much. After all this, these thoughts aren’t so life changing because in the end I become happy wherever I am, because of the people I get to live my life with inside our shelter. This idea of a home is represented across all the places that people live in because that isn’t what makes somewhere home, but because of those you get to experience life with, make memories with, and love with. Knowing that the heart in my family is what makes a shelter a true home warms me up inside, making me wish this kind of home on everyone.
