Home Sweet Home – Is There a Better Place?

Vacations are wonderful! There’s something exhilarating about getting away, leaving the routine, responsibilities, and daily stresses behind to enjoy new experiences and surroundings. Being away offers a break from phones, faxes, e-mails, palm pilots, and other interruptions. It’s the time I set aside to explore, read, relax, to make easy decisions and to usually eat more then is required. The problem with vacations is they are never long enough and we don’t take them as often as we should.

We can take shorter breaks besides vacations. Sometimes a day or overnight can be just the divergence I need to clear my head, to look at life from a new perspective, or to experience something different. Taking time out from my usual schedule, whether it’s for sightseeing, to visit with out of town friends, or to play, is a reward I give myself. I am giving myself permission to feel unencumbered and non-productive for a short period of time.

There is, however, irony to this scenario. No matter where I go, regardless for how long, I still experience an overwhelming sense of relief and comfort each time I return to my community, my street, my driveway and my house. When I see that place and the space and settle into the space that is home I am so grateful. Whether I’ve traveled by car or by plane, from a nearby location or from a long distance, as I enter my home I feel the warmth and comfort of familiar surroundings. The feeling of being home again is one of reassurance and safety.

The magic to all of this is to thoroughly enjoy where you are at any given time. When on vacation, feel the excitement of new places and enjoy and celebrate them with gratitude. When it’s time to return home be equally grateful that you have a place that is yours. When I get into my bed after being away, place my head on my pillow, pull the covers up and over me and drift into sleep, I know there is no place like home!