Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Why I Love Being Home

This time last year I had already logged in a couple dozen flight segments and was well on my way to Premier Executive Gold status.  This year, now that I'm in a different job, my travel schedule slowed down quite a bit.  And I have to say I'm kind of liking it.

I often day dream about becoming a global nomad, spending my days wandering from place to place.  But it's an idea that for me is better in theory than reality.  And it boils down to a few things:

  • I love my bed.  
  • It's virtually impossible to have any sort of social or dating life when you're constantly on the road.
  • I like having a routine.
  • Home is uniquely mine.

Growing up, whenever we went on vacations, the last thing my mother would always do was clean the bathroom.  My brothers and I would literally be sitting in the car waiting to leave while my mother scrubbed the toilet.  It became a running joke.  But now as an adult I understand it.  Home is a solid foundation.  It's comfort and constance.  It's a refuge that is all mine.  And while often mundane, it is a special place to be valued.

Home allows you to understand a change in perspective.  When experiences are outside of your 'norm' you view them in a different way.  Home allows us to experience the world more deeply because it paints a frame for us to view the world within.  Experiences can often become disconnected without having a basis to compare.  The Andes Mountains were so magnificent in part because they are so vastly different from the flatness of home sweet home Ohio.

My mother appreciates what home is.  That's why she made sure it was a welcoming place (with a clean bathroom and all!) to return to.  And while the travel bug kicks in more often than not, and my list of must see places grows and grows, I can't imagine not having the foundation of home to come back to.