Home.

What is it, really?  In the red book…. with all the other words in it….  a home is purported to be…. “the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.”

I think this is partly true.  But HOME is so much more, I think.

Home is not really where we live.  It is more…. perhaps… HOW we live.

Okay.  Say for instance, you live in a little cracker box of a place, with the love of your life, and all your beautiful children, and your dog named Joe.  (And even your little cat… who calls itself  “Dark Lord of the Universe”).

Then one day… someone plucks you out of that tiny-walled-place, and drops you in the middle of a marble mansion in the middle of the Kingdom of Cuz.   But there is no Life-Partner.  No kids.  And heck NO… not even Joe or his fleas.

You can never see them again, but here is this spectacular mansion.  Are you home?  I would guess not.

Home is that warm bowl of oatmeal in the morning, and the flowers growing in the garden.  Home is the pictures on the wall, and the apples in the bowl on the dining room table.  It is Jessie’s “A” in reading class, and Martha’s big win at the soccer field.  Home is the song on the radio, and ceramic jar from last year’s festival.  The summer pickles in the fridge.

Home is what grows in our hearts.  Like warm green moss on the side of an Oak Tree in the forest.  The two seem completely different, but completely inseparable.

Today, I went to a reception hosted by the HIT Foundation.  Which, by the way, stands for Home Is The Foundation.  It was honoring all their volunteers and donors, and participants, in the Senior Home Repair Program.

Because once you find your home….. you never want to leave it.  Not really.  There is no place like it…. in the world.  So you always go back home.  Or at least… you hope to.

That continues when we get older.  Maybe even more so….. that need, that longing…. to be home.

So this program does repairs and such, for Seniors in our community, to assist them in keeping their homes longer.  A happy longer.  I can only say that the people who donate their time to this cause, are amazing spirits.  Some of them give tirelessly.  Endlessly.  From Construction Companies, to Church Groups.  Incredible giving.

It is an amazing grace, this thing.  Just like home is an amazing grace… in our hearts.  And that…  is why we call it “Home.”

“Home is where I want to be… Pick me up and turn me round.”  – Talking Heads

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.  —  Maya Angelou

Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.  —  Sarah Ban Breathnach