Sunday, April 22, 2018

Back Home

Yes, Home. It might be a shared AirBnB house and living here can be quite a trial sometimes, but it is still home. Because home is not heaven but a base to return to at the end of the day. If it were heaven you would never leave it in the mornings. A home is familiar, a space that you can adapt to your body rhythms and, if you are fortunate, to your emotional rhythms. Of course, the space for that is limited if you are in a shared home or if you lack financial resources. But, everyone does the best with what they have. Home is where you don't feel like a guest, where you don't feel like you are beholden to someone else's generosity or sense of duty. Living in a shared house with the owner can be trying because the owner's territorial instinct often flares up. It is tempting for him or her to see every minor misdemeanour of the housemates as stemming from a lack of concern for a house that isn't theirs. Sharing a living space with someone requires trust and forbearance and the option to sequester yourself from them when you don't feel trusting or patient. Being a renter allows you to distance yourself from the owner and claim a right to the place, although of course that right is revocable. When you are staying with distant family or friends, that is not an option.
When we use a space we imbue it with meaning. The longer we live in a space, the more creative are the ways we use it in and the more meanings it has for us. Of course, not all meanings are positive. 

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