Home Again

“A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in its permanence, in its capacity for accretion and solidification, in its quality of representing, in all its details, the personalities of the people who live in it.”

H. L. Mencken

One-way flights home from Tel Aviv were quite expensive, so as per my usual travel approach, I opened Google Flight Map to see where in the world we could go that would be less expensive than the one-way flight directly home. Sarah and I discovered that we were able to fly to New York City, stay for four days, attend a couple of Broadway shows, then head home for the same cost as the original flight from Tel Aviv. I called my brother and asked if he would want to “bookend” the semester. Tim and I started our “Covid Revenge World Tour” together in August, so it seemed appropriate for him to join me at the end in NYC – so, he did!

I returned briefly to my mountain home after nearly five months away. The house wasn’t quite the same. While in Israel, I got a notification on my security camera that there was movement in the basement. When I opened the app, the camera was covered in ice crystals, and I could hear water running. I called my sweetheart, and he rushed over to find that there was, indeed, a waterfall occurring in my basement. He took quick action and shut off the water and initiated the insurance adjuster and restoration company. He packed and moved all the “stuff” (including over 100 scrapbooks) into storage. As it turns out, the furnace ignitor stopped working on Christmas Day, freezing pipes and sending a waterfall into the basement family room and office. The break occurred upstairs in the master bathroom spraying water into the walk-in closet and part of the master bedroom, so I have a bit of a mess. My six kiddos are coming to visit in a week, so we will see if we end up having an old-fashioned slumber party with sleeping bags on the floor upstairs! In the meantime, I moved back to my hometown and into my childhood home to assist my parents while teaching at the local junior/senior high school.

Moving home after 35 years has been great. My parents have lived in the same home (that my grandfather built) for over 60 years, so not much has changed as far as that goes. My childhood bedroom is now Dad’s office, so they created an “apartment” for me in their finished basement. It’s cozy, but five times larger than my cabin on the ship, so I have plenty of room. I am once again “living large in small spaces.” Above all, I consider this opportunity an honor. My folks are the kindest and most loving, faithful people I have ever known, so spending the next several years caring for them will most benefit me. My Semester at Sea friend, Shruti, instructed me to change my vocabulary regarding my new living situation. I am not living with my parents, but rather, the three of us are living together. There is a sense of harmony in her phraseology.

It’s been fairly easy to slip into the old way of doing things, but traveling these past few months has changed me fundamentally, and I’m unsure how to process the transformation. Yet, as I sit around the kitchen table sharing meals and card games with those I love most, I am once again home.