“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Maya Angelu
A few years back, I was traveling with four of my doctoral students to our research site. One of the doctoral students said, “Dr. Calabrese, where do you call home?” He knew my career took me to several states. Without hesitation, I said, “Home is where I am with my wife, the person I love most.” He didn’t understand. He said, “My home is Kansas. I knew he wouldn’t understand what I meant.
I’ve never thought of home as a house or a location. I’ve always thought of it as a place where I am with the person or people I love most in this world.
“Home isn’t where you’re from, it’s where you find light when all grows dark.” ~ Pierce Brown
In that particular place, whether it is a house, car, restaurant, or coffee shop, I am at peace because I know I am loved as I am. I have to be no other than who I am.
Now, nine months since Babe died, I am recreating a home. My five daughters live out of state and here I am in Texas, alone, but not lonely. Together with my neighbors and new friends, I am recreating a place I will call home.
“I don’t care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together,” James Patterson
I hope you have a place called home.
You know you are welcome at our home anytime for as long as you want.