“Home is the place where from every view I can find a memory. The dining room table is a good spot to begin. I always sit at the end nearest the kitchen and my husband always at the opposite end. In between we have watched our family grow from a young family of 5 to small army of 16: three grown kids and their spouses, eight grandkids, and the two of us. And there’s also the spot where my mother always sat, so bravely filled when our daughter stepped up that first holiday without her Grandma. Then there’s furniture handed down for generations, a myriad of “little pretties” that came as gifts from the people we love, mementoes from our travels, and picture frames of every size that sit in every surface, north, south, east, and west filled with our favorite smiling faces. Our home has been threatened by flood waters during a few extraordinarily wet winters. Fortunately, each time turned out to be only a threat that never became a reality. I was terrified at the thought of losing our precious home. I understand, of course, that home is a state of mind and not merely a chunk of real estate, but after so many years in the same spot it would be hard to imagine living anywhere else on earth. It seems our home has acquired a soul!”
ABOUT THE WRITER: Recently Janet Compiano Alonso, a friend since childhood, sent me this moving description of what home means to her. A former teacher and current writer, Janet is working on a book of historical fiction set in California’s Sutter Basin.
