Wednesday, March 12, 2008

What is home?

Richard Ford's contemplation on what it means to be home made me wonder the same thing.
1. Home is where the heart is.
2. Anywhere I hang my hat is my home.
3. Money can buy a house but not a home.
4. Place of birth.
5. House with fixed address.

There is a sense of "homeyness" that I sometimes feel when I sit down in the morning and enjoy a morning cup of coffee or watching the kids play. But then this feeling goes away sometimes when we have visitors or sometimes, this sense increases with other visitors. There is also the feeling of familiarity when we come back from a trip that qualifies as homeyness. I've lived in different places and have not actually been able to call most of them home. When I go back to Malaysia, it doesn't have the same homey feeling. Sometimes when we're in Maine where I went to college I have a feeling of home even though I don't live there. But here in Washington, with my family, I'm definitely home.

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