Homecomings

"There's no place like home"

"Home is where you make it"

"Mama, I'm coming home"

These are some great quotes. Everyone should know the first one. It's from a pretty well known movie: The Wizard of Oz. Sound familiar? The second one is also from a movie, but maybe not as mainstream as the Wizard of Oz. That quote is actually one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, Joe Dirt. (Pronounced Joe Deertay, I believe) Finally, the last quote is from an Ozzy Osbourne song. It really has nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about except it says the word home in it. I only put it because it came into my head when I started writing.

These famous sayings are used a lot, but I am curious as to how much any of us actually think about these. I have to admit, I never really think about these, but recently I have been. (Wow, tonight's just a song fest! "Recently I've been" is the start of the DMB song Recently) Firstly, I'm never at my official home anymore, for I'm always either at school or working. This leads me to my second point: I have developed other homes. At times, it feels like school is my home, and often, I do think of it as my second home. Also, we are trying to sell our house and move to a better house. I wonder if the new house will feel like home? I've lived here for nine years, so the short year and a half might not be enough to transition into the new house.

In this year, 2009, people are really busy! Many years ago, a home was where a family lived, worked, and played. The kids might have gone to school somewhere else, but a lot of time was spent at home. In current times, though, "home" has become a more ambiguous term. Does it mean a house? Just a place to sleep at night? Every person's definition of what home is may be different. Does "home" constitute a building? A town? I guess that's where the crazy guy from Joe Dirt comes in. In the movie, he tells Joe, "Home is where you make it," when Joe is trying to find his parents' old house. Joe had lived in many different places, but he still felt like he didn't have a home because he didn't know his parents. So maybe one's true home is where their parents are, their origins.

For me, even though I may be at school and work for a huge part of the day, I still consider my home to be my house. School is a home in the fact that I am there a lot, and it is a community that I am a part of. However, at home, my house, I am able to relax and simply be. At school and work, I am always busy, with no time to sit and not do anything. The more I am working, (at a job or at school) the more I am starting to value that fact that I have a place to just be to myself and ignore the craziness of the world, even if just for a few minutes. I also value sleep more and more, for it is the true relaxation time. It is my meditation time where I get to clear myself of the day's troubles.

If we do move to a new house, will it feel like home? I remember when my grandparents moved about five years ago. Every time we visited them for about a year, I was surprised to go to the new house. I was expecting to go to their old house. Even now, after visiting many times, it still feels different there, like it's not really their house. When we move, will it feel like ours? I will only be there for less than two years, so it might not for me. It will help that we will move while I am still living with my parents. My brother, on the other hand, has been gone for a few years, and the new house will probably be really, really different for him.

As Dorothy put it, there's no place like home, so I guess we'll just have to adapt and figure out a way to make the new house our home. After all, home is where you make it. So mama, I'm coming home.