Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pondering with a Purpose

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This Week's prompt is: Home?
Webster defines home as home  (hm)
n.
1. A place where one lives; a residence.
2. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment.
3. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household.
4.
a. An environment offering security and happiness.
b. A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.
5. The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.

I have lived in many place, many structures, most of them I considered houses.  I wasn't emotionally attached to them.  There was my college dorm, various apartments in Denver, houses we lived in throughout the United States.  Thinking back there were only three that I considered homes.
The first was my childhood home on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, west of Cody, Wyoming.  It was a comfortable, log house filled with love and laughter, pain and tears.  Here I learned the values that would shape me for the rest of my life.  It was an environment filled with security and happiness.

The second place I considered a home, was the apartment in Jouy-sur-Eure, France where I started my married life, where my first child was born.  It was a small run-down apartment, with uneven floors, covered with cracked linoleum, a small kitchenette, cupboards with no doors, rooms all connected with no doors, an open shower in the corner of the bedroom, the toilet in the outside hall used by all the tenants.  It was heated with a kerosene stove,
the chimney going outside through a pane in the living room window.  But it was in this place that I learned of love, the joy of motherhood, the heartbreak of losing my father, and the wonderful advantages and opportunities that I had stateside.

The final place that I consider as home is the house in Phoenix where I now live.  This place is solid--a refuge from the cares of the world.  In it I have experienced the joy of seeing my children grow up and become responsible adults, but I have also experienced the loss of my husband through divorce, a hurt that hung like a cloud over this dwelling for several years. Then this building saw my metamorphosis from a hurting depressed individual to a successful business person, well adjusted and happy.
So, looking back, I have concluded that it is not the dwelling that makes a place home for me, but the emotional ties those bricks and boards, windows and doors provide.

13 comments:

  1. So true, Marti! Enjoyed this post very much. Thanks for sharing the photo of your childhood home.

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  2. Thanks for sharing those memories ... they help me come to know you a little more. ;-)

    Interesting the stories that our homes could tell.

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  3. Good post - I totally agree that it's not the house itself that makes a home - it's the living and loving done within those walls that transforms a house into a home.

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  4. Beautifully written, Marti! My aunt and uncle live in Phoenix!

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  5. Wonderful and more than a house it is the story of life. Yours has been filled with living. I think you yourself have made the homes.

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  6. Beautiful post Marti! Hope your day is going well!

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  8. Thanks for pondering with me Marti! I completely agree with you that home is so much more than a house. I love your post!

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  9. I have lived in many places during our years of marriage. I have learned to wear my homes like a loose coat and know that it is just an Earthly dwelling place and does not define my true haven. xo Diana

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  10. This is beautiful. I think I could agree that most of my homes have not been houses, but dwellings, with a few exceptions. I like how you expressed the emotions you attached to each home.

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  11. I meant "not been homes, but dwellings."

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  12. I liked to see all your homes and hear about your growth - it's good to hear. sandie

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  13. So very true. That old expression about home being where the heart is... And I think that women are particularly good about creating home under trying circumstances. As one who lived for many years grieving a divorce, I can sympathize and also rejoice that you found your way through those years. It's not easy.

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