Wednesday 24 August 2016

Wednesday thoughts . . .
















Hiraeth Hiraeth beckons with wordless call,
Hear, my soul, with heart enthrall'd.
Hiraeth whispers while earth I roam;
Here I wait the call "come home."

Like seagull cry, like sea borne wind,
That speak with words beyond my ken,
A longing deep with words unsaid,
Calls a wanderer home instead.

I heed your call, Hiraeth, I come
On westward path to hearth and home.
My path leads on to western shore,
My heart tells me there is yet more.

Within my ears the sea air sighs;
The sunset glow, it fills my eyes.
I stand at edge of sea and earth,
My bare feet washed in gentle surf.

Hiraeth's longing to call me on,
Here, on shore, in setting sun.
Hiraeth calls past sunset fire,
"Look beyond, come far higher!" 

~Tim Davis, 2007  

A friend of mine posted this on facebook yesterday and I was immensely touched by it.  As the child of a Military man, and the ex spouse of one, home was a place I spent most of my life longing for.  Home for me always was and is . . . quite simply . . .  peopleI suppose that is why I don't get "homesick" for places, but only for people.

Most of my childhood homes, or houses that we lived in do not exist any more.  There is no place I can return to and see the house I grew up in.   Except for one house which still stands, the rest are no longer in existance.   There is no place to return to.

 

They exist only in my memories and old black and white photographs . . .  and in conversations with people who lived in those same places and had similar experiences.

The place I lived the longest was a place called Greenwood in Nova Scotia.  And even our time living there was broken up.   We spent several years on one house, which was pulled down in the years since I moved over here to the UK, and a couple of years in a house in Middleton and then the remaining years in a house that still exists to this day.  These are the only two houses of my growing up years that are still in existance and they both look very different than they did back then.

Even in my last marriage, I was pulled from pillar to post . . .  forced to carry my home on my back like a turtle carries its shell. We moved 16 times in 22 years.  All of my children, with one exception, have chosen careers and lifestyles which afford them the opportunity to stay in one place . . .  places where they can put down roots.   Of my own siblings, I was the only one who failed to find roots.  Both my brother and sister spent most of their adult lives in one area.   I am the only nomad.

 

So that is why home to me is people and not places.  Home is where my mother lives, even though I have never lived there myself . . . it holds a huge chunk of my heart, a chunk which lives with her and my sister.  Home is with my father and my brother and his family.  Home is also contained in the small chunks of my heart which rest where each of my children and their families live.   Home is here, in this little terraced house with Todd and Mitzie.

Yes  . . .  there is a piece of my soul that longs to go back to those shadowy halls which exist only in the channels of my memory . . . a special yearning to return to a place that is no longer there.

But I find myself wondering  . . .  it is a yearning to return to a place . . .  or is it a yearning to return to a time.  Perhaps I will never know.

A thought to carry with you through today  . . .

⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰
If you find someone who makes you smile,
who checks on you often to see if you're okay,
who watches out for you and wants the very best for you,
don't let them go.
Keep them close to you, 
and don't take them for granted.
People like that are hard to find.
~Unknown
⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰⊰✿⊰

Spiritual Enlightenment

 photo DSCN8738_zpsex4mhu2f.jpg

In The English Kitchen today  . . .  a delicious "Green Peach Salad."   It's fabulous!


Have a wonderful day today!  Wherever you go and whatever you get up to, don't forget . . .

═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════

And I do too!!


9 comments:

  1. Home is such a special thought and place. I haven't moved that much except in the decade I was teaching. I hated that I could be moved at any place and time. They seem to do that less now. I am also very glad that my father doesn't know that my childhood home which he extended and improved so is now a brothel. That would break his heart.

    God bless your day Marie. I glad that you have a home with Todd and Mitzie and with your extended family. Home is truly where your heart resides.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh wow, that is positively tragic Suzan! I cannot imagine! God bless your day my dear friend, and your evening too! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'd agree it's the people that make a home. No matter where you go, you can hold them in your heart. I can remember when we'd go to visit my grandparents, my mom would always say she was going home. Their home became my home too and I have such fond memories of the time I spent there. Now that house no longer stands, but I still think of it as home...the wonderful people that lived there made it so.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have many fond memories of my grandparent's house also Pam! Sadly the people who bought it after them, tore off the veranda and painted the house black. Sigh . . . Hope you have a great Wednesday! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree Marie that it is the people who make a home. Once I left Newtongrange to come to Bath Bath became my home, same when I moved to Box...Why ?...Mum was in all three of these places...now I suppose Box is my only home I certainly have not got roots in Newtongrange or in Bath...like you I would be nomad, a wanderer,We are sure strange folks ain't we !!!......been a very hot day again but not quite so humid thank goodness, now it has dulled down and will shortly rain I think and even perhaps have a real stormy night...
    It has been a sad day for my friend Val she had to,take Bootsie back to vet this lunch time and the vet agreed there was no more they could do and it would be better to have him put to sleep..Bootsie was 17 and Vals had him since he was five months old. You can just imagine how she will be feeling tonight all on her own, please remember her in your prayers xxx

    ReplyDelete


  6. I lived in Mtl in a dplex until I was 10..that is the area where my sister was run over by a truck and died:( I was not born..but my brothers saw it..they were with her..my friend lived in the same duplex and upstairs als0..we went back in our adult lives my friend and I and rang the bell and a young woman let us in..It was so much smaller than what I remembered..and our back yard was a postage stamp compared t what I remembered.The duplex was in fine shape..being well looked after..not sure why we called them duplexes,,as there were 2 on the ground floor two upstairs..
    From 10-22 I lived on the West Island..in front of that smae friends home and that is where I lost my parents at age 19 and 20..6 months apart:( My dad died the night I married..

    then Jacques and I apart from the west island house..we have lived in 4..this last one being the longest 16 years.
    I find you very courageous..intrepid..determined..caring..I hope your children realize what an exceptional mom they have:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. All the moves and stuff made me very resilient Sybil! I am so very sorry to hear about Bootsie! It is such a difficult choice to have to make. I will certainly keep Val in my prayers. Xoxo

    Oh Monique, so much loss. ((((Hugs)))). I tried to go back to one of my childhood homes, and like you, it was so much smaller than I remembered, or maybe I was just a whole lot bigger! Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  8. ☺ @{----{---- (Supposed to be a rose, lol) Here's a cat instead. =<..>=

    ReplyDelete

Your comments mean the world to me, and while I may not be able to address each one individually, each one is important to me and each one counts. Thanks so much!