Category Archives: home

On going home

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I have been gone for 86 days–almost three months on the road. People often ask, “How can you stay away for so long?” but I always ask, “How come you never get away?” Home is where you make it. It isn’t a building or a city, it’s not a house that you built or an apartment you rent. Your home is where your heart is, to coin a cliche, so, in a sense, I am always home, whether I am at the cabin in northern Minnesota, or the farm, or in Europe. I have long since ceased being a tourist, even when I’m touring a castle, passing through customs, or checking a map. I ride the subway as if I were a local, brandishing my transport pass as if I had lived there twenty years. In sense, I am always going home–to the farm, in the city, at the university, on the plains of central Texas. One should not obsess one way or another about what “home” means. I find that the journey home is so much easier to make when I am going somewhere that looks, smells, and feels like home. I can wait in airport–which is not home, definitely not home–when I know that the plane I am waiting for is going “home.” Home is more about the people and less about the stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love my stuff, but stuff will never love you and can always be replaced–not so true about the human element. So if you are going home and will see folks, greet them for me, tell them I am fine, and that I will be there soon.

On staying home

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You really can’t be hip and stay home. Yet, there are times when staying home is not a bad idea, and being hip has is not always what it cracks up to be. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself is heat up a cup of coffee, pull on a sweatshirt, open a book, turn off the television, and read something new. Sometimes you just need to get out of the street and enjoy a little solitude, a comfy sofa, a warm blanket. Yes, you can spend a lot time and money going to the latest clubs or restaurants, bars or whatever, but in the end, what do you really have? All experiences are fleeting and ephemeral and our constant drive to consume everything is driving us all mad. There has to be a point when, just to maintain your sanity, you need to stay home and make your own coffee (and not pay some exorbitant price for it). Of course, you won’t be famous for staying home. Nobody will know your name if you stay home, but then, do you want people to know your name, necessarily? If you stay home, you might get some much needed sleep. You might write a letter or read a book (made of paper). You might talk to your family. You might cook a meal–something healthy? If you stay home, you don’t have to put up with strange or odd people that don’t have your best interests in mind. If you stay at home one night, you might feel pretty good the next day.

On staying home

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You really can’t be hip and stay home. Yet, there are times when staying home is not a bad idea, and being hip has is not always what it cracks up to be. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself is heat up a cup of coffee, pull on a sweatshirt, open a book, turn off the television, and read something new. Sometimes you just need to get out of the street and enjoy a little solitude, a comfy sofa, a warm blanket. Yes, you can spend a lot time and money going to the latest clubs or restaurants, bars or whatever, but in the end, what do you really have? All experiences are fleeting and ephemeral and our constant drive to consume everything is driving us all mad. There has to be a point when, just to maintain your sanity, you need to stay home and make your own coffee (and not pay some exorbitant price for it). Of course, you won’t be famous for staying home. Nobody will know your name if you stay home, but then, do you want people to know your name, necessarily? If you stay home, you might get some much needed sleep. You might write a letter or read a book (made of paper). You might talk to your family. You might cook a meal–something healthy? If you stay home, you don’t have to put up with strange or odd people that don’t have your best interests in mind. If you stay at home one night, you might feel pretty good the next day.