What Makes You Feel at Home?

"What makes you feel at home?" It's kind of a big question, and I would guess that it may be an emotional one for some people.  Is it the stuff that we have around us?  The people?  The house?  The city you live in?  A combination of all of these things?

According to Pintrest: 

• Home is wherever I'm with you.
• What I love most about my home is who I share it with.
• Home is wherever we are together.
• Home is where the heart is.

So, obviously home has a lot to do with who we share it with.  Of course, I love being wherever BK is- he's my person.  We love to travel, but we also love to come home.  Of course our little buddies are coming with us too and will be part of our home as little Swiss dogs.

But, beyond the people, what make you feel at home?  BK and I have had to think hard about this, specifically related to what we want to take with us on this journey.  When we first found out that we were moving, I was all about not taking any of our furniture and starting anew over there.  We've moved past that, and have decided to take one bedroom, some of our living room furniture, dishes, bedding and those sorts of things.

I've also discovered that taking the art and pictures displayed around our house is important to me.  More than being familiar, nearly everything that has a place on our walls holds a memory of meaning to us.  

For example, the small painting from Hawaii of the place on the beach where BK and I got married- our parents bought it for us while we were all on the trip together, and it has hung in our bedroom since then.  The travel map with pins marking all the places we've been- both together and apart. Not only is this one a great conversation piece, but it is a visual reminder of how fortunate we've been to see the world around us, both near and far.  There's also our most recent addition- a piece of art by Kelly Sullivan that we found when visiting Sullivan Winery.  Not only is it from Napa, one of our most favorite places, but it is also the first real piece of art we bought together, for me, signifying how far we've come together.

It will be interesting over the next couple of months to see how much our home is transformed and how we make ourselves feel at home.  We'll be in a new apartment, new city and new country; but we'll be together and making a go at living far away from all the people who make us feel most at home.  Hopefully these small things that help make our house a home now will help us feel at home no matter where in the world we live.