Take me home

Home. It's a powerful concept. I was mulling this over as I was listening to Michael Buble's song "Home". Bryan McFadden's "Real to Me" echoes the same sentiment. These pop stars get to travel all over the world doing exciting things, but when it comes down to it they just want to go home. I can understand that. When I was tripping round Europe for over 3 months non-stop, I too yearned for the familiar surroundings and people I'd left behind (the fact that I was lugging around 20 kilos on my back and suffering sleepless nights in crowded rooms may have had something to do with it). Even though I had the time of my life and I don't regret anything, I've resolved that any future traveling will be in bursts of only a few weeks, or a month at most, and that I will not be carrying all my worldly goods on my shoulders.

What is it about home that is so appealing? Even when we've moved out of our family home, isn't there something so comforting about being around the old dining table, tucking into one of Mum's dinners? You can't buy that feeling in a restaurant. The old wallpaper and creaky floors of your old room are far superior to the uniform features of a fancy hotel room. And by the sound of it, it's not just me.

I think it's not just the old family home that these people are pining for - it's the home they've set up, perhaps with a loved one. Home is the place where the people and things we've gathered together and treasure reside. It's where we know how things work and we don't have to think all the time. It's where we can make the calls. Auto-pilot can take over some of the brain, while the heart is more fully engaged. Everything is ours.

There is the other side to all this, of course. One can spend entirely too much time at home, and become impatient to get out and see the world. Maybe a day trip, a holiday, or an OE of some kind. Or maybe the weather just sucks and you want to go somewhere sunny. No matter how well home treats us, we need variety. Most of us feel like we never get away enough. It's when you start packing for these trips that you realise how much stuff you use everyday that is neatly (or messily) compartmentalised in your home. How many little things are necessary to make everyday life possible. I always feel satisfied once I've come home and finally unpacked. Everything's back where it should be, and everything looks like it always does. I'm home.