How do you get to...

the place you call home?

Nature photo of the day: on a walk back home across the valley.

high up on a hill
a house has been sitting
since 1938
on the same crumbling rock foundation
passing the tests of time
snow blowing in the attic
mice chewing through the walls
weathering tile-ripping winds
and a single lightning strike
entire families moving about in
two rooms with 
wooden floors
wooden doors
and a wooden wrap-around porch
for protection 
from the elements
it's a heavenly haven
under a venerable ash
that probably wasn't built to last
but it's better than any modern
accommodation
without running water
only two outlets
and a few spirits that pass
from time to time
a reminder that houses are places
with memories
of all who call them home.

- Cheryl M.

By the age of forty-six I’ve lived in several places, I stopped counting long ago.

But this home has a special something, a feeling that I am always home.

While it doesn’t look like much through the trees, and it can be strenuous for some to reach on foot, it provides a sense of safety and protection in this current world. It’s far from the main road and uphill, so one needs a little stamina to reach it. Getting home in summer on the odd-weather day can be a challenge because of sun and high heat, or rain and lightning storms. Winter brings about it’s own defiance with cold temperatures, snow and ice. Walking up an icy hill is far better than sliding down…

The quiet every night invites one to slumber and it’s only a matter of time before the bulb in the street lamp goes out entirely. Once that happens, we’ll have almost pitch black nights once again.

Home is more than just a location on a map, it’s a place in your heart.

So, how do you get to the place you call home?

Physically you can always give directions - turn right at the cross, head downhill and over the bridge, turn left at the bottom of the valley and meander through the walking path up and up through the field to the tile-roofed house.

Emotionally and spiritually it may take a little more time to find a place you love to call home. Through the states or countries, the twists and turns of the journey, through the excitement and doubt, the trials and tribulations, to find the place you call home can only happen through time and experience.

If you dare to wander with an open mind and a wondering heart, you may just come upon it unexpectedly.

As for the journal prompt of the day:

Home is where…

Home is where ‘what happens’ for you? What do you do at home? How do you feel? If you don’t yet feel at home, what do you imagine it feels like? What room of the house is your favorite, and why?

How do you get to the place you call home?