What Home Really Is

Since the days in our house are probably limited, I've taken time in my daily Just 10 to ponder what "home" really means.  The things I most love about our house are the people and the memories.  Home is more a state of mind than a place.

There are many things I love about my house.  I love my kitchen because of the meals and laughter we've shared with family and friends.  I love my oven because it allowed me to bake cookies for my family.  Cookies that make them smile and say, "Mmmmm."    I love my kitchen sink because of the friends that have talked and laughed with me as we cleaned up after a feast.  Who needs a dishwasher?

I love the living room where I've sat waiting for my family to return after a day at work or school.  In the family room, we've laughed so hard I cried over something we were watching together on TV.   We cried when we watched Marley and we cried together.   We've played board games, worked on crafts, talked about our problems,  did homework, shared our victories, the big and the small, in this house.  And we have been together.

I love the bedrooms.  I've lain awake when everyone was asleep and felt love for my sleeping family.  I've tiptoed in each of my children's rooms to check on them at 2 in the morning.  In the quiet darkness, I experience the world as better place because they are in it.

If the walls of this house were to dissolve tomorrow, we would remain.  The laughter, tears, joy, and trials would remain.   This is only our home as long as we're in it.  If and when we leave this house behind, we will find a home where ever we are.  We'll make new memories.  We'll learn new things.  It won't matter that I never got to paint this or that room this or that color or that I never refinished the deck.   The fact that my bathroom towels didn't match or that my kitchen floor often needed a good sweeping won't matter.  Those things don't really matter now.

All the money in the world can't buy a home.  A home is made when the people that live inside it love each other.  Today, that is really all that matters.  I am home.  I am with my family.