The Nostalgia of Home

“We are homesick most for the places we have never known.” 

― Carson McCullers

nos·tal·gia

  [no-stal-juh] 

noun

1.

 a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

A Swiss physician named Johannes Hofer coined the term nostalgia in the late 17^th century to describe what he considered to be a cerebral disease unique to Swiss mercenaries fighting wars far from home.

Maybe He wasn't too far off. Nostalgia can work one of two ways. It can bring a memory to mind that makes the future brighter with hope and newness. Or it can remind us that the good things, the good people, the good times, good memories are behind us now. Leave us with a longing to go back. 

Often time in our adult lives we have a longing to go back 'Home'. 

Where is home? A better question might be, When is home?

Home is a ballerina 4th birthday party with a black and sparkly dress.

Home is warm buttery pancakes on a Sunday morning.

Home is pink shag carpet and a barbie dream house. 

Home is endless movies at grandmas house. 

Home is huge piles of leaves in the fall. 

Home is the time when love is never a question.

Home is pictures over the fireplace and sports trophies on the mantle.

Home is wild flowers that outlined the garden.

Home is bike rides until dusk. 

Home is weekends at the lake sailing and swimming. 

Home is the light in the hall when monsters take hold of your dreams.

Home is the shelter from the darker side of memories.

Home. Home was.

Home is all the things I wish I could go back and freeze. . .

Home has to change over time.

As we grow older, and years pass, we adapt. We evolve. 

Home becomes the smell of a newborn baby.

Home becomes the walk around the duck pond on a sunny spring afternoon.

Home becomes the smell of a pie in the oven.

Home becomes the embrace of your loved one after weeks of work required separation.

Home becomes watching your babies sleep in their beds. 

Home becomes coloring pages of homework.

Home becomes a new paint color on the walls.

As Home becomes we become. New.

Then again even later in life, Home changes yet again.

Home is now your children returning home for the holidays, birthdays and BBQs.

Home is now the journey of new hobbies.

Home is now the kind of love that remains the same through the years.

Home is now coffee with an old friend. 

Home is spoiling the grandkids with cookies before dinner. 

Home becomes finding your self, in your lovers arms.

So when you think of Home, don't look back on days gone by and wish they would return. They were here or their season. Instead look to the home you have now. Hold it close. And never let it go.