Etsy

Friday, November 5, 2010

Home:Dedicated to the BEST Father-in-Law Ever! Jimmy Clark

Home


I was listening to Neil Diamond’s newest CD this week and was so moved by a song called “Feels Like Home”. There was such a tenderness and humbleness in the melody and words of the song. The song got me to thinking about “home” and what that means to each of us. Over the years many songs have been written about home. “Take me Home Country Roads”, “Home on the Range”, “There’s no Place Like Home”, “I’ll be Home for Christmas”, and “Sweet Home Alabama”, just to name a few. This year Miranda Lambert put out a song called, “The House that Built me”.

I thought a lot about that last song and could relate to so many of the lyrics she sung about memories of growing up at home and how those memories made her who she is today. My own childhood home no longer exists. The old home was torn down and burned to make room for my brother’s new home. It had to be done, because he had a family now and the old home just was not what a family needed anymore. Now that home is up for sale because my brother has moved away….but that does not take away the memories of my childhood home. That home will exist forever in my heart and memory where my Mom and Dad were young, my brother and sister and I were outside playing and our pets were running right alongside of us and the whole world lay ahead.

Lots of time when folks pass away, we hear they have gone home. One of the dictionary’s definitions of home is: a place of origin: the place where something originated ….sounds to clinical or sterile to me. I do believe that when we leave the Earth we go to our Heavenly Father’s Home. His home….but what about the home we left behind?

When my father-in-law passed away, my daughter Erika dreamed of him two nights in a row just after his passing. The first night she said he wanted her to keep singing and he wanted her to be happy for him…the next night she said he told her all about his Welcome Party….not his Welcome home party…..I can understand that….He loved his home and his family and that was home to him. I am not saying he would come back if he could because I know he is happy and is healed…but I am saying Home is the hilltop where we will spread his ashes in the springtime when the mountains are blooming and coming to life.

One last thought…I have never liked dusk ….I should clarify that and say I have never liked dusk when I am away from home….that is the time of day when folks are coming home or have made it home …where the family is gathering …the day is done and all are together. I don’t even notice it when I am home…but when I am not …I notice and it is a lonely feeling.

Home is many things to many people….May it always give us peace and rest and like a loving parent welcome us with open arms.









                                                             My Home:  Where They Are!