“There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort.” – Jane Austen
Today I realized that “home” is such an amazing place to return to.
Yes, there’s no denying my admiration for my current dwelling place. But to tell you the truth, I admired my first home pretty much the same way I admire my new one (the most recent is 15 years old; the latter was 91 years old).
The reason is simple really – it’s not the “house” and all its furnishings and decorations which truly make it feel like “home”. No, it’s the person I live there with. I can say with complete honesty and sincerity that no matter where I may purchase a house over the course of my lifetime, it’s my wonderful wife who makes it feel like a home.
The outside world has a funny (and annoying) way of making us all a little more self-conscious.
I feel a little older, grayer and chubbier when I step outside my front door into a world filled with judgements. But whenever I return home, they all seem to vanish. Suddenly I feel young and handsome through no magic or trickery, but rather pure, unconditional love.
It saddens me to think of all the times I take this extraordinary gift for granted. How often I allow the burdens of life to taint something that is rare to find and even more difficult to sustain.
L.M. Montgomery once said, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens – but just those that bring simple little pleasures.”
Everything in this life is temporary – the good and the bad. So if you find yourself one of the fortunate individuals who considers home an amazing place to return to, tell the people who make it feel that way how much you value them, cherish them and admire them. Don’t ever assume they already know.
