It’s almost Christmas, and I can’t help reflecting on my notions of home. In German there is a concept of the Heimat and means your home. It doesn’t really mean your home where you live now, but a nostalgic home, maybe a homeland you left, etc. That’s a bit of how I feel. I have made more new mini homes in places, but it will always come back to, and feel ‘at home’ at my Heimat where I grew up. There are tons of things that are not perfect about it, the bugs, the spiders…that’s basically it, but it will always be that nostalgic home. Regardless of where I call home, where I register my address, what my billing address is, there will always be that home. That Heimat for me. Nothing will ever compare and I don’t think it should. They shouldn’t compete for what to be my ‘true home’, because there’s already a clear winner. So it’s okay that they aren’t the same, or even close, because it will never compare to my Heimat. Nothing will replace it and nothing will ever be the same.
And that’s okay. It’s all a part of growing, moving, and changing. You don’t replace something to try to make it the same as what you left, they’re different. Just like my life is different here, my home is different here.
But Heimat, you remain always in my heart, my bones, and my thoughts.
Where is your Heimat?