Home is.

Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.  -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

After a perfect time at home in Atlanta last weekend, Sean and I began thinking about what home is now that we live in our home across the country from what we’ve always thought is home.

Below are Sean’s thoughts on the concept of home (and I am convinced he needs to start writing this blog from now on, because everyone needs a peek into his thoughts written out in lowercase letters and ellipses):

home… for the majority of my life, this meant my parents, two brothers (destin and tyson), an abundance of ceramic figurines and junk collectables  in something my mom referred to only as a shrunk (note: this “shrunk” easily weighed a metric ton, or in today’s terminology 13,094,298 weight watcher points).

home… now means a beautiful wife, my own personal teddy bear (toby), and an apartment in cali neither the size or weight of a shrunk…

home then was comfortable and safe and maybe not altogether different from your home growing up..

home now is just as comfortable, but scary.. not in a worried about drive-bys and break-ins (clearly not the case in irvine).. but in a this-home-is-now-largely-defined-by-me kinda way.. growing up i was a participant in the home my parents had built.. now i’m leading and defining my own version of home… here is our definition thus far:

1. small – we live in a one-plug apartment.. meaning we can vacuum the entire apartment and leave the vacuum cleaner plugged into a single outlet.. and while we may eventually move into a two (or if we’re really lucky, three) plug home, we’ll always believe that smaller doesn’t mean less.. it means you’re never that far away from the people you love..

2. livable… museums have a place… fortunately that place is not in our home.. I understand the need for nice things.. and keeping those nice things nice, but objects will never take the priority over people in our home.

3. dancing/singing.. few know that i am a closet dancer.. this fact is locked tightly away inside our home (and even then the lock is finicky.. usually only opening to get erin out of a bad mood..)… i think the beauty of the home is that you can be who you want without the ridicule or scorn that would come outside the four walls.. (at least ridicule and scorn is what I face when I dance in public..)

4. full of family and friends.. we love our family and friends and we want our home to be defined as full.. and right now full means visitors.. so check your local flight schedules to SNA..

5. our home can only grow.. erin, the teddy bear, and i comprise our home.. this is our floor, that number will never be smaller… with family, friends, and (sometime in the distant future, moms) kids that number has no ceiling..

Today’s post is part of a “blog carnival” that Jamie’s friend Elizabeth organized. Click over to her blog here and scroll to the bottom of her post to check out other bloggers’ thoughts on what HOME means to them.