Monday, June 08, 2009

Home is...

This post is written in response to Twitter Moms' Away We Go Contest: Tell Us What Home Means To You and Get Prizes!

We were, until fairly recently, a military family. We have been moved around. Some of our things still have moving ID stickers from 2 moves ago. We have been dropped in areas where we have no family. We have had to split up our family for deployments and training. We have had to create our own definition of home.

Before dh and I married, home was the same house where I and 3 other generations of my family lived. If you look in my father's high school year book (the same high school I attended), you see the same address listed under his name as you find in the back of mine 37 years later. Home was the same town and house in which I had always lived and I had deep roots there (literally).

I had a difficult time feeling at home anywhere once I left that house. We moved into an apartment when we were first married and I liked it, but it wasn't home. It was exciting when we rented our first house, but I was never comfortable there. When the military moved us, that was the most awkward of all.

Before we had children, when my husband was away & we didn't know where the military would send us next, my husband told his friends, "Home is where the wife is."

We had children, the "War" started, and my husband left. He eventually came home to much older children who could do so much more than when he left. He came home to a house completely redecorated. He came home. He would leave again for training and not too long after, he left for yet another deployment. Each time, he was welcomed home.

Right now, "Home," for us is our house with our family. Home is the bedroom where our youngest daughter was born. Home is where our children took their first steps. Home is where we cuddle under the blankets and listen to the rain fall.

But take away this house and we know we'll still be able to find home. As a child, "Home," was that house. As an adult, a mother, and a military wife, I've come to realize that home is not always one specific place. Home is a feeling of comfort, familiarity and safety.

"Where we love is home--home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

5 comments:

Elisa @ Globetrotting in Heels said...

so true! beautiful post.

~Sandy~ said...

oh my i was getting teary eyed towards the end! i love that your husband said "Home is where the wife is". i will have to tell my sister in law that! my brother is in the military and has been deployed 2 times to Iraq and missed the birth of his first born. he graduated from West Point and served 10 years before he decided to attend the the Military Medical School in MD.

it's so nice to hear that you have found your home :)

Nancy said...

What a wonderful post! I didn't realize that you're a military wife. I hope you saw my Memorial Day post so that you know how grateful I am to you and your husband for the sacrifices you make.

I got a bit teary eyed also when I read that your husband said "home is where my wife is". That's so touching.

I really loved this post. Hugs to you for finding home in all the places you live.

Lauren said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lauren said...

What a beautiful post!

BTW- I gave you an award on 4BabyAndMom!
Thanks for being you!