Having just returned from a few days visiting my family in Solihull, I realize that our little place is feeling more like home. Rick has added some nice touches and has made himself a desk (really a must for a teacher and all of his paperwork and marking), a coat rack, and most recently a terrific pot holder in our tiny kitchen. With limited cupboard and drawer space having somewhere else to place the pots really was a must. It was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle making sure that things would fit back in their places of origin. Did they really go there to begin with? It is hard to decide whether to make this place a home given that we are here for a short time or simply a place to live.
A natural course of evolution seems to occur, however, and you see a mat that would look great in the bathroom, or sheets that match nicely with the duvet, or a lamp that would cozy up a dark corner. Suddenly the house you are renting becomes the home you are living in. And is that such a bad thing after all? Isn’t it nice to feel a sense of comfort and belonging? It doesn’t mean that I don’t still long for my rambling country home in Douro. I can’t help but think of what Rick said when he was travelling in the 80's though. “Home is where your pack is,” he has told me. Having moved a lot as a child, I wasn’t sure I wanted to think about living out of a pack. Being more grounded and permanent was much more appealing to me as an adult.
Did he mean then that I shouldn’t become attached to my home away from home? But getting back to our recent return to Dartford after our holiday travels suddenly brought something to light. My packs rest here now. And my pack could rest somewhere else in the future. Not that I am rushing off to our next adventure. But I do see what he means and I think it also has something to do with contentment which in our day and age is not an easy thing to achieve.
So when we walked in the door with our luggage in hand, that familiar smell of home was apparent, and I was eager to hang my coat on the rack, pull up to desk and check my email, and tuck our things away in the drawers.
