The Gift of Home

The traveler in me marvels at the wooden sign I just bought. It says, “It is good to be home.” My passport quakes, but so be it for now. Being here, now–where have I heard that before?–feels right.

And in keeping with the theme of my blog, it is bringing me joy, a small quiet kind of joy. I bet you know the kind. It’s looking out our windows at the blue sky and hills beyond, it’s sipping my coffee with foamed milk, it’s watching the birds fly to the feeders and our doggie watching the birds, it’s writing in my journal, it’s lighting a candle or two, it’s reading an inspirational book, it’s saying “good morning” to my husband. It’s giving thanks for this day, this glorious day.

When we’re home, I get to meet good friends for a glass of wine, watch a basketball game with my hubby and another friend at a local restaurant, do my short jog on an old airfield that allows me to see the green expanse of the mountains that line our valley. I get to sit at my spacious art table and play with my big palette of watercolors and a big piece of watercolor paper.

The gypsy in me is always on the look out for the next adventure, but for right now, as the sign says, “It is good to be home.” Being home provides the balance point–the in to the out, the yin to the yang, the known to the unknown. It gives time to repair parts of the nest. There’s our front gate, our garage and screen doors, the bedroom window, the circuit breaker, and on the list goes, almost as if our home knew we were going to be home for a while and started to show its true, aging, needs.

So taking care of the basics that provide the safety and comfort of our home is what we are doing. And we are enjoying every quiet, unsung, necessary and loving part of paying homage to our base, our home.

“Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.”

Susan Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy