Pliny the Elder coined the famous phrase, “Home is where the heart is.” However, Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog points out, “If home is where the heart is, then your real home’s in your chest.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. would argue, "Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” Seeing as there seems to be more of a concept of home rather than a concrete definition, I went to Dictionary.com to see if there was more clarity. Some of the definitions offered there are as follows:
a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
the place or region where something is native or most common.
Home has been on my mind a lot recently, since Thanksgiving is approaching. As Thanksgiving (and the break associated with it) draws nearer, particularly on a college campus, people begin talking about “going home.” They ask you if you’re going home, and if not where you’re going. But for many people, where they go for the holidays is not the house they grew up in. In the same way, I think of travelers who have spent so much of their time not in their home that I wonder where they think of as home. I also think it’s interesting how quickly humans begin referring to a place as home. I remember times in high school during musical season where I spent more waking hours in our performing arts center than at my house, and began referring to that section of my school as “home.” Often it slipped out before I could catch it. Then there’s the strangeness of living at college and going “home” to your dorm room and simultaneously calling “home” and talking to your family. What is home? To the best of my defining abilities, home is where you return to for safety and comfort. Home is where you live, and where there are people that you love. As I sit in a home away from home, I’m feeling very blessed to have three places to call home now. As you return to your homes or invite people in, don’t forget to be grateful. Home is a beautiful blessing, so enjoy it.