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Home

      What does that word mean? There are as many meanings as there are people in this world.

     So what comes to your mind when you think of “home?”  

     My answer to that question is a sense of safety, familiarity, a refuge, comfort, challenge, tenderness, warmth, a place of laughter and where tears are honored, favorite foods, the place you feel accepted, the place you are seen and known and loved, no matter what...these are a part of my list.

      Some people moved often during their lives, and so “home” is a concept that travels with them, not necessarily a certain place. But for most of us, the familiarity of a landscape, the manifestation of the earth beneath our feet...snow capped mountains or wind blown prairies, pine trees, maples, oaks, birch and ash...or perhaps no trees at all, or scrub oaks and old growth forest, or giant redwood trees. Perhaps the ocean stretching far onto the horizon, and the sight of sailing boats and seagulls bring that sense of having your feet beneath you, the energy that keeps your heart beating.

      For many if not most people, people also come along with a sense of home. Dad and Mom, uncles and aunts, sisters and brothers and cousins, new babies, grandparents...sitting down together and eating all of the major feasts...And looking across the table at these well loved and sometimes annoying faces, each wrinkle and line, eye color, skin tone, those familiar ears that stick out on Uncle James and make you smile, and Aunt Emily's slightly vacant look, Cousin Tommy's nervous twitch and Dad's big booming voice that is usually laughing and carrying on, but can be a little frightening. You know what I mean.

      Or perhaps your home is filled with “family” that are well loved, long term friends, of the human variety certainly, but also dogs and cats, even turtles and fish for some. Or maybe your sense of home comes in the form of just one other person with whom you are spending a lifetime.

      Of course familiar rituals and food are all about a sense of home and belonging. The aroma of baking bread or that well loved cobbler, taking a long walk after dinner or first thing in the morning...

      And then some of us do not have families of origin to return to. Some of us rely on our identity as Buddhist or Christian or Muslim. Some of us feel engulfed in a faith tradition that gives us a sense of who we are and what is most valuable to us. And we know that even if there are a multitude of changes in interpretation or leadership, we will always have a sense of rootedness in a faith that gives us compass and comfort throughout our lives.

      Our earthly bodies are where we spend all of our years here on earth. Isn't it sad that we are sent so many messages that our bodies don't measure up...aren't pretty enough, aren't small enough, aren't athletic enough, aren't perfect enough? We look in the mirror and find so many things with which we are unhappy about our bodies. And yet, this is the one thing that we know will be with us throughout our journey here, and it is a miraculous thing, full of molecules and atoms and mitochondria. We may dislike what we see, but our bodies are just amazing, stunning creations, able to process information through our senses, sight, sound, smell, taste, touching...and what an extravaganza we experience through each of those senses. Smell alone can conjure up dozens of memories in a single moment, transporting us to half a lifetime ago. The gift of touch offers such an array of sensation, pleasure, pain, and everything in between.

      “Home” is a complex topic. And I'm not sure what happens when someone is set adrift in life, without a sense of home in some way...having lost family and faith and place. What if one even feels that one's body has been a source of betrayal? What happens when we do not have a “place” or “people” or a faith tradition that is home to us? What if there is no sense of belonging anywhere? What happens then? The thought is disturbing.  And yet, whatever we have lost or may not have, we are still children of this earth.

      I think I will take a little time with Pitty Pat and maybe make something familiar and wonderful today that fills my mind with memories. And give my friends some extra big hugs.