Home, inside and out.

When thinking of home, it is important to think of all of the ways that the word affects us. Home, both from an inner and outer perspective, and, from an inside and outside perspective.

The inner perspective of home is the inner emotion and feeling of safety one feels internally when home. The external aspect of home is what we call home. It can be one's home, town, state, nation, family, etc. or combinations of these. Inside and outside perspectives are different, we are here talking about being at home and being away from home. How do those two perspectives change the way we feel? How does Thea Hestia pull and tug at us as we move about in the world?

I have travelled outside the US. Portugal, Spain, France, Andora, and within them many cities. Within the US I have lived or travelled to many places as well. Dayton, my current home, Stamford, CT, where I spent my formative teen years and most of my twenties, Portland, Oregon, a city I still have amazingly fond memories of, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and Tampa, Florida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Providence, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, etc.

All of these, even when the visits have been brief have left an indelible mark on my being. And part of that mark is the feeling of being away from home. And then, when you return home, either because you live there or for a visit because you now live elsewhere, there is a feeling of relief when returning home.

That sense of belonging is not simple familiarity, in my opinion, it is divine.

This divine connection to a place and a time, sometimes, makes us long for home, even if home can be many different places. depending on the time one references. It is also what draws us to different religions, philosophies, etc. because those can also feel like home. It draws us to her who is the keeper of the sacred flames of the holy hearth, and that hearth is something we carry within us every day of our lives.