Not house - home.
We've all made the mistake though, haven't we - mistaking houses for homes? My family and I are in the middle of remaking our house so we can move back into it in a couple months. It's easy to believe our happiness will be complete when certain improvements are done.
In fact, everything will be easier - parenting, work, marriage - all those things that are so complex right now will be simplified once we're back in our house. These thoughts clear up when I remember it's only a house we're going back to - and it will not satisfy the ache.
We all know that ache.
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As we grew, we came to know the ache when we were away from our house. When we drove back into our city or town, the skyline, the library on the corner, the water tower, and finally our driveway reminded us how much we ached for our known-place.
And now, if we have our own children, we see the same pattern growing inside them; all is right when our place is secure. The blanket, the toys, even the furniture all make up a house that they are coming to know as home.
Of course, family always forms an integral part of our idea of home. And that's yet another temptation: if all my family is filling this place, then I'll be content.
My wife and I have a house-full, and most days we're together. So why do I still ache? Why won't the house become a home?
Stay tuned.
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Read more about my theme this April in my intro to the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Or visit the home page here.
8 comments:
2 years ago I moved far away, left most everything behind, live in a rented space and everything in it is rented except my clothes BUT it's home.
Great writing and so true about the difference between house and home.
Can't wait to read more about your drive to make your house a home.
Family and love make the home, not the house. Profound, huh?
If home is where the heart is at then that means it's the loved ones that matter most.
Alex said it best. I've known people that lived in mansions that were utterly, unkind, ungrateful and unhappy.
dreamweaver
House hunting makes me weary. I think sometimes our home probably has too much, but it's home.
The old cliche is still true. Home is where the heart is, no matter how humble or palatial.
Denise
I've been on the move from place to place over the last couple of years with jobs changing from better, to worse, and back to better. No place feels like home, so I can certainly sympathize.
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