Among the many new threads of thought that I’ve had in the wake of Mom’s recent passing is my realization that the notion of what and where “home” changes over one’s life.
I hadn’t given it much thought, but what I’ve called “home” has changed over the years. As a kid it was easy, but it changes as you grow up, move out, marry, move away, have kids & visit grandparents – wherever they may be. There’s a “home” for my family (spouse and progeny), there’s a “home” where I came of age, and there’s an important “home” that isn’t a place but instead a proximity – wherever your parents are, that’s also a form of “home.”
I thought: Where is “home” now? Where do you go for Thanksgiving and Christmas when that magnetic north is gone? And then I thought: There is a new and different freedom to be explored here. There is also a torch-passing, a conferrence of eldership and family stake. I think also that there is much to learn about living in this new era, and what responsibility is conferred.
Peace & love.
Also written on this day...
- best of 2010 - 2010
- in the bathroom - 2007
- roseola - 2006
- variations on a theme - 2005
- the donner party got nuthin' on us - 2004