What is home? And all the ways we keep it close.

The task—bring back the witch’s broom. The small band would do anything to find a heart, some courage, a brain, and one longed to return home. I shrank into the sofa, keeping my eyes shut tight as the wicked witch crackled threats and winged monkeys swooped and shrieked across the sky

I held that position until I heard Dorothy tap those ruby red slippers while chanting, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

Where is home? More importantly, what is home?

My first stop, Merriam Webster’s New Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, the thick red book with print so small I needed a magnifying glass. I know, old school, but I always feel at home swimming in all those words.

Home

Noun: a person, place, or thing

One’s place of residence
The social unit formed by a family living together
A familiar or usual setting, a congenial environment
A place of origin
An establishment providing residence and care
The objective in various games

Verb, an action

To go or return home
To return accurately to one’s home
To proceed or direct attention toward an objective
To or toward a source of radiated energy

Then we have adjective and adverb meanings. The concept of home, however you choose to define it, also wiggles its way into our language through clichés and idioms. I heard most of these as a child, and still see them crop up in movies, songs, and the daily news.

For example:

Home is where the heart is, and where we invite you to make yourself at home. I always hope friends and family feel at home when we gather together. I enjoy visiting family, my home away from home, where our laughter and enthusiasm can bring down the house, but we remain safe and sound ’til the cows (or geese?) come home.

A group of Canada geese stands on green grass, surrounded by pine trees, with a tranquil lake visible in the background.

As my crew watches their favorite baseball team, we wait for the ball to fly over home plate—STRIKE! And cheer as each runner crosses home plate for every home game. But since we are homebodies, we enjoy the home comforts with homemade snacks as we score another home run.

I think you get the idea. Home may only have four letters, but it packs a powerful punch in our everyday lives and language. That young, frightened child hiding from a movie never knew that you could lose a home or become homeless, or that home was not a safe place, or that some people must flee their home, or that home could be more than a place and people.

Maybe home also lies within us.

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
—Maya Angelou

What is home for you?

Music speaks of home

Watch and listen to “Home Is a Song” on YouTube.

Home-inspired thought

“Home,” says Glinda the Good, “is a place we all must find, child. It’s not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we’re always home, anywhere.”
—Joel Schumacher, from the screenplay, “Wiz”

I always welcome your thoughts, so please leave a comment

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And always—