Home Back East - 1/6/12

Home Back East



We had just completed (1/5/12) a whirlwind holiday-time visit of dear family and friends in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and then headed out to Costa Rica for two months. I celebrated getting to see many, and accepting with some sadness that we won’t get the chance to see everyone when we visit.

 

With Jenny and Ramani in Beverly

These last 17 months I’ve been on a journey to find my new home, and I’ve eased into a new perspective about what Home means to me. For the first time since I left the home I own in Ipswich August 26, 2010, I didn’t need to look at Jason’s studio, and I felt no emotion entering or leaving the house. In fact, my experience was that I was visiting the home of our renters. It’s no longer my home.





Gloucester, MA harbor



Visiting Dianna in Ipswich



My home back East is with family in RI and with friends in Gloucester, not in Ipswich. We were welcomed into our community of friends Christmas night at Charlene’s place in Gloucester, after being welcomed at the airport with a ride from our dear friend Ed. Breakfast at Ed and Caren’s was another wonderful experience of our extended family.  We were so fortunate and blessed, once again, to stay in our sweet friends Jenny and Ramani’s place across from Fisherman’s Wharf in Gloucester. We watched the sea splash over the wall toward our living room, enjoying this snow-less winter adventure. Dinner with Liz and Alexander was a short walk away, and visits with our friends in Ipswich was a short drive. This Christmas season we decided to not drive ourselves crazy driving everywhere! We greatly appreciated my family’s understanding that we would celebrate Christmas with them a few days later, to take advantage of the sweet home by the sea in Gloucester. We hopped back up to Mass. for a New Year’s party in Newton to catch a bunch of friends at once, and then to meet with our hosts Jenny and Ramani, just back from Europe, before returning to RI.



Nephew Jeremy with Ella in RI



Niece Nicole with Ella in RI

Coming home to RI is also really sweet. I so appreciate my 83 year old mother’s decent health and cooking, and her ability to drive out 20 minutes away at our home away from home in my sister Mariana’s house. Even with a house load of other visiting relatives, there is always a place for us to stay there, and I get to spend time with my niece and nephew home from college. I have so much gratitude for their hospitality and their generous offer to store our things in their attic until we settle out west. Mariana looks forward to spending time with her sister, as do I! We have always been close, and we miss each other. I got to spend some time with my brother Michael, who is moving back to RI to teach after getting his Ph.D.

With sister Mariana and nieces Mia and Talia in Truckee, CA

Back West, we are starting a new home in Ashland. Just 6 hours away are my brother Al and his family in Truckee, another home away from home!

We are now in Costa Rica, wondering if this will be a home someday. We are visiting communities of friends that make us feel at home.

Home is truly where the heart is.