I stepped off the bottom tread first thing in the morning after a night’s heavy rain and took in a long breath of the damp air. It smelled like home. Linda stopped at the top of the ramp with The Boys and said “Wow, it smells like home.”
Ah! The questions! What does it take to have synchronous sensations about something as subtle as damp grass and wet pine? Why now? Aren’t we home when we live full time in an RV? We’ve seen morning 321 times in 15 different states as part of our maiden voyage, including near where we used to live in our ‘sticks & stones’. Neither of us have come close to having this thought until now. Why now you ask? It was because we were back in New England after eight months.
We stayed in some states a lot longer than we wanted.
I always thought it was ‘Home is where you hang your hat’ vs. ‘Home is where the heart is’. That it was a choice of attitude between the independent transient soul and the warm blanketing protection of familiarity. Now, I realize that these phrases aren’t two exclusive sentiments about home. They describe two states of mind, two homes.
One is physical and the other is emotional. Some folks may never experience both and others may never realize the difference. A close sensation would be returning home after a long vacation and stepping into those familiar aromas of the closed house. It’s usually identified by someone saying, “Gee, it’s good to be home.”
I’m an analyst and a Taurus, so it can take me a while to get to a conclusion and apparently, to the end of a sentence.
When my great aunt talked of Home, it was about Scotland even though she lived in the US for the previous 60+ years. It always seemed to give her comfort.
great. Now I understand her, long after the conversations became folded and torn by time.
As far as the metaphorical hanging of the hat; the trailer is it. The clothes, dishes, linens and all material that we need throughout the year is in the trailer or the truck. It’s our home. When we’ve mooched-docked in someone’s driveway, and they kindly offered a room in their home, we declined because we have our home right there. The entire family is more comfortable in our own wheeled container of life.
Besides, we wouldn’t want to stress out the boys. They would spend the night asking when we’re going back in the trailer.
It’s clear that regardless of where we ultimately start to settle down in our post mobile phase, New England is where the heart is.
Is Regardless and Irregardless like Relevant and Irrelevant or Ritation and Irritation?