What Makes Home Home?

We've been home for eleven days now and I'm finally feeling like I'm back to normal - whatever 'normal' is. I know that when Mac and I did our OE back in the 70s, I got homesick for New Zealand. Although we were away only three weeks this time, and so I didn't really get homesick, I did experience a huge sense of relief when we got home - and that wasn't just because the 26 hour journey was finally at an end.

We walked out into a frosty cold dark morning. Yes, it was dark. That's something I've taken for granted all my life, but after two weeks in Fairbanks, Alaska, where there was no dark, I welcomed it.  I suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and was very grateful to catch all that sunlight this June, and definitely feel better for it but.....

The sky that morning was black, with a few familiar stars, and a beautiful sliver of moon. I don't like the short, dark, rainy days of winter, but when the clouds clear and we have a night like that - that's home.

As we headed home, light gradually edged up the horizon, lighting up a clear, frosty day, so clear and sharp - that's home.

The green of New Zealand is different from that of England or Germany or Washington or Alaska, and it's not that New Zealand's green is better than those other greens, it's just that - it's home.There are many stunningly beautiful places in the world, and certainly we saw much beauty in Alaska.

Although I am sure that if I was to visit another planet, upon return I would have a sense of 'home' regardless of where I arrived, I am confined to this planet, and within those confines, New Zealand is 'home', and in particular the Waikato, and in particular, the Raglan area, and most particularly of all, this small acreage we call Secret Waters is Home.

And I am very glad to be back here.