A place to call home
What does it mean to be at home? Home is more than just an address, building, or a place to rest. Oftentimes, home is a feeling. It can be difficult to describe that feeling, so we interviewed some friends at Hillside Terrace Senior Living, asking them to help us define what makes a place feel like home:
Nancy described that “home is family and friends,” saying that her grandson is someone in her life who feels like home. Dale has spent most of his life in Ann Arbor, calling it a “dynamic town to grow up in.” He described home as a place that is “insightful.” Patty said home is someone caring and loving: “Everyone here is kind, loving, helpful, and considerate.” Roslyn said home is “anywhere that’s a comfortable place to take a nap.” Shirley told us that “home was a little place called Granite, Oklahoma” which sat in a range of granite mountains. She knew many places as home, as she traveled with her Air Force husband - “it's always the people; wherever you go there are wonderful people.” Becky said home is wherever she is with “loving and kind people.” She emphasized that people who feel like home are “good listeners.” Lois, who, inspired by her grandmother, spent 22 “happy years” as a nurse at the VA hospital here in AA, described how her home had a garden. She described someone in her life who feels like home as “love.” Valesta emphasized that Brooklyn is the greatest place to grow up, saying that her mother feels like home. Betty says home is “a feeling of being comfortable in the house.” She worked as a pediatric nurse and said she misses giving shots. Even though it was very challenging, it made her young self realize that “older people know what they’re talking about.” Christine illustrated home as “a place where you can stay and be cared for, and people care for you.”
People who feel like home encourage you to:
“experiment and try everything”
“spread your wings”
“both explore and be comfortable”
“accept others the way they are”
“get a job that allows you to go home singing”
“take life seriously but have fun”
“have a good time”
People who feel like home are like driving under a bridge amidst a storm. Life can sometimes feel like getting caught driving in the rain, with one’s windshield wipers battling a downpour of deadlines and to-do lists, splashing puddles of worry and disarray that make it difficult to know if you are going the right way. Am I running late? Why didn’t I check the forecast? Did I make a wrong turn? Having a place to call home, having a community of support around you, feels like driving under a bridge amidst that downpour. Momentarily, all the rain stops, and the world instantly becomes clearer.
People who feel like home are like yellow band-aids for when it feels as though life takes away your training wheels, and suddenly you’ve fallen and skinned your knee.
People who feel like home are like glue in our lives- even though we might not always notice their presence, they always stick with us.
Our friends at Hillside Terrace reminded us to build that bridge to drive under when life gets stormy, to find and share our yellow band-aids, and to notice the glue that sticks with us…even when we forget it is there.
By: Michaela Johnson
