As of late, I find myself curious as to if “Home” is a literal place, or actually a feeling. I am unsure as to why, but all my life I have never been able to stay in one place for too long. It could be combination of getting bored easily, or maybe even craving different things out of life at different times. Is home your family or your significant other? Is home just where you sleep? I am learning that I am rather content, always, everywhere I am. Here’s why:
As a young child I lived at my grandparents house in Wantagh. So even though I have not lived with them for over 15 years, their house still feels like home. Getting off the Wantagh Parkway feels like home. Mill Pond and Wantagh Park will always feel like home.
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I grew up in Levittown. This is where my actual house is, where my bed is, and where my mom lives. Levittown will always be home, but my house often feels foreign to me. Between dormering the house, growing up with a decent amount of chaos, and a lot of more recent modifications (like new floors, and painting my bedroom walls a different color), I do not always feel like I am “home” when I am sitting on my own couch.
I have had the same group of friends since highschool, and I gain of sense of peace just being with them. My best friend lives in New Paltz, and although I have never actually resided in New Paltz, I feel so comfortable there. Walking on Main Street with my best friend getting sushi or ice cream feels like home.
I go to school in Rockland County. Being at school feels like home. The restaurant I work at in Valley Cottage (The Whiskey Kitchen, the greatest place ever) feels like home. Being on the Pallisades Parkway feels like home. Being with my friends from school, no matter where we are, always makes me feel whole and very satisfied.
Last year when I studied abroad, I lived in Rome for five weeks. My friends and I referred to campus as “Rome Home”. Rome made my heart beat faster than it ever has before. I fell in love with myself and my life while living there, and this is why Rome will always feel like home, and will always have a very special place in my heart.
This summer I went on vacation with my grandparents and my two cousins (who also happen to be my best friends). We went to Sicily and stayed with family. We visited all the places where my Grandpa grew up, and finally got to see the house we had heard so much about growing up. Sicily felt like home for a multitude of reasons. One being that I was with my family, so I was extremely fulfilled, and I got to exercise the very little bit of the Italian language I know. Talking to your very Italian family, in Italian, is so cool.
I believe it is fair to argue that home is actually where the heart is. “Home” is that comfort you feel when you are with all of your favorite people. In my opinion, home is not always just a house in a town, it is also who you spend time with, who you are making memories with AND where you are making them. The concept of “there's no place like home” in The Wizard Of Oz, reflects the fact that it is infact your loved ones that make your life feel cheerful; the people who matter to you is what makes “home” feel like “home”. I have beaches on Long Island and mountains in Rockland County, and friends and family everywhere I go. I am lucky to have so many people that always make me feel loved, and so lucky to have several places to call “home”. You have to make the most of what you have no matter where you are in the world.
So, is home really just a place?
