I was riding in the car with another missionary wife and mother today. She asked me how the kids were doing here in PNG. She wondered where they considered “home”. I had to answer honestly that I really didn’t know. They have mentioned missing people in America and a few fun things we were able to do there. But we’ve really never discussed where “home” is.
But then I started thinking about where I consider “home”. I was surprised to realize that I was unsure myself! I feel at home in certain places in America, and in PNG. But there was no physical place that immediately came to mind when I tried to think of home.
I think those of us raised in Western culture tend to think of physical structures and places when we think of home. Maybe it’s because I’m in PNG or maybe it’s because the longest we’ve lived in any one place since we have been married is two years, but I no longer put a lot of emotional ties on places. My warm memories of home include snapshots of family get-togethers at the holidays, spending time with my sister-in-law, playing games with friends, and talking over coffee. Home has more to do with relationships than geography. In my mind at least, when I am surrounded by people I love and who love me, I’m home.
Erica
But then I started thinking about where I consider “home”. I was surprised to realize that I was unsure myself! I feel at home in certain places in America, and in PNG. But there was no physical place that immediately came to mind when I tried to think of home.
I think those of us raised in Western culture tend to think of physical structures and places when we think of home. Maybe it’s because I’m in PNG or maybe it’s because the longest we’ve lived in any one place since we have been married is two years, but I no longer put a lot of emotional ties on places. My warm memories of home include snapshots of family get-togethers at the holidays, spending time with my sister-in-law, playing games with friends, and talking over coffee. Home has more to do with relationships than geography. In my mind at least, when I am surrounded by people I love and who love me, I’m home.
Erica
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