Going home?

Home is where the heart is.  Home is where you hang your hat.  Home is where your stuff accumulates.  OK, I made up that last one, but the definition of home is fluid:  where your family is, where you were raised, where you sleep, where you feel safe and comfortable.

A few years ago, I asked Richard if Sweden felt like home.  He and Jennie had been living there for some time and so the 2 year adventure was being extended.  He said yes, which was wonderful because it meant that despite the language issues, the customs, friendships, activities and space for  daily functioning gave him a sense of ease and well being.

So, today is the day we leave Ponta Delgada and return to Canada.  Yes, we are going back to where we pay the taxes and shovel the snow.  I will know where all the dishes and kitchen tools are.  We will slip back into the regular routine of choirs and stained glass.  We will pick up the mail accumulating for the last 3 weeks.

But our time here has been a comfortable routine; the apartment adequate to the life we lead here;  enough space for activities and stuff.  It has felt like home, and we hope to return next year.  A familiar sunrise through sleepy eyes, oh how happy I'll be.