Dear Reader:

As the temperatures started their warming trend yesterday I found myself opening all the windows letting the fresh air back into the house after a weekend of cozy fires that I love but, admittedly, it does leave the house smelling a little “ashy.”

It feels so good just to be alive today. Don’t you love days like this…when you are happy just to “be?” No check-list or goals or anything pre-planned…just a day to enjoy being alive. As I walked around my garden watching life resurrect itself from hibernation and turn towards the sun…I felt the sacred nature of life and it was breath-taking. The saying on the left sums up my thoughts at this moment: “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”

Can you feel the crispy warm fresh air pouring into the house? I did and felt so energized!

The word origin for the term  home derives from the Old Norse (Scandinavians…my people…making up 22% of me) root word heimr which meant the world as one’s residence. (For the Vikings home was located in different parts of the world…each time they conquered it!)

Interesting I thought. It is true….just like our pastor Jeff Kackley said about the church being the people….so is a home. It, too, is not a building…it is where our loved ones live and/or lived.

I remember learning that lesson when both mother and Poppy/Dee-Dee changed residences after years of living in one home. Mother came to live with us after a terrible episode of the flu that almost took her away from us, and Dee Dee and Poppy decided to give up on the increasingly challenging upkeep of their beautiful old home on Gum Street and move over to Richardson into a rental they owned.

When we found the duplex in Miler Country Club we were glad…now mother could have her own side and privacy while still being close enough to us to help her manage life a little easier.

I must, secretly, admit that, at first, I wasn’t ‘crazy thrilled’ about giving up our home in Briarwood to move back into a duplex. After all, I grew up in a duplex in Fayetteville until I was fourteen and appreciated living in a single home.

But soon, the other side just became Me-mommy’s Place….her own space…it just happened to be conveniently close to us. The children were able to grow up with two homes side by side.  What a gift…”Me-mommy’s” home was a place they could retreat to for a little extra loving when needed.

Poppy and Dee-Dee told us, one day, they were going to move into their rental home. Fix it up and make it their retirement home. I remember having very mixed feelings about the move….I loved their beautiful home on Gum Street…it held so many memories…especially at the holidays. I was afraid that everything would be different.

But like the change with mother’s living accommodations, everything continued as normal…holidays and birthdays were still celebrated there, along with the Dingle Easter Egg Hunt. I realized it wasn’t the structure of the house that mattered or where it was located….HOME was where the people we love lived. My Scandinavian ancestors were right: Home is the WORLD to us because the people we love most in the world live there.

We need to make sure our homes are happy ones…because it is so important for the children growing up there to have fond memories of good times and good connections to the past. With that kind of anchor in our past we, too, can go see the world, but still feel the happiness of returning back home…to our residence on Earth.

So until tomorrow…Take a few moments to walk around your home and find the things that make you happy… that  make this house  your home. Then give them all a hug!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I thought about you today, Anne, when I saw the latest Subaru Barkeley dog family commercial. It just makes you smile….beats out most of the Super Bowl commercials. I just love these Barkeley dog family commercials. Click on and see if you don’t agree…just one minute of time.

Subaru Dog Tested | Subaru Commercial | Puppy (Extended) – YouTube

*It did make me stop and think that this would be an excellent service job…not just for puppies but humans. If you have a crying baby or puppy…One can call the service…they come and pick up whichever and drive around all night so the owner can sleep! 🙂

*Tommy called me Saturday evening. He was searching for the commemorative coke cans with the Clemson National Football Championship  insignia on the side. Apparently they were going faster than eating potato chips. His internet search led him to the Sphinx gas station on Old Orangeburg Road…he asked if I would check and see if they had any…and if so, could I pick some up?

It was about 8:00 Saturday evening….I called and the manager said they had 3 cases left….a case holding four six-packs. He told me that if I wanted to get one or more I had better come on then. He had just about sold out from what he had been allotted.

So I threw on a heavy jacket and raced over there….I got one case but in trying to get it in the car the box slipped and some of the cokes hit the pavement making indentures on the top tabs. The manager was so sweet…He helped me get them up and separate the good from the bad and gave me a deal on a second case…which he carried to the car.

Since I have several individual coke cans now I thought I would take some to my Clemson neighbors as a memento for them. Tommy is going to take some and do the same for his friends and leave some for interested family. Thanks Coca-Cola for the nice memento of this happy occasion!