Day 168: Home Sweet Home

I'm home... and, it feels so nice to be home. They really nailed it when they said, "There's no place like home." No matter where you travel in the world, it feels like you can't find your place, until you get back home.

I got a lot of rest this weekend, but I didn't feel rested until... just now. As I sit here, on my bed, with my laptop, everyone in the house has gone to bed... I can just hear their breath in the house and feel the peace of their sleep. (oh, and I can hear my sister's t.v. in her room, and the noise of the AC that's on in the garage, but, I try to tune those sounds out...)

I can't imagine a home without this moment... this is when everyone calms down, relaxes, and shuts down after their long day of what ever it may have been... this moment is priceless.

When I was in my early teenage years, I'd like to sleep over at my friend's house. It was fun getting into our pajamas, staying up late and talking, spilling our guts out about every single secret we had, then, falling asleep... but, in case I woke up during the night, I'd feel, kind of, lost... and, now that I think about it, it was because that silence in the house was not my own, and, I felt out of my place. Then, I'd wake up in the morning having forgotten where I was, which would, then, take me about 10 seconds to process, but, overall, I wouldn't change those sleepovers for anything.

Today, when my sister got home from work, she started kissing me, like usual, but, worse because she hadn't seen me for 48 hours... As she kept hugging and kissing me, she said, "The house is so empty without you... I don't know what I'm gonna do when you get married and move out..." with a whining voice. I just looked at her, laughed, and said, "You're crazy!" I really didn't think she was crazy for saying that... I do think it's crazy that we have to leave our home, once we're a certain age. If it's getting married, moving away to school, or traveling, it's a hard part of life to leave the breathing silence in your home, that's been there for so long, and try to make your own silence in your own home...

Tip of the Day: Listen to the silence at nights when everyone's sleeping... it's the time of the day when everyone is at peace. If you're experiencing the part of life when you have to create your own silence in your own home, don't be afraid...

"There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested beofre they begin to fade. And, finally, of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting, and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are. " Chogyam Trungpa