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| Childhood friends (1881), by Gaetano Chierici |
"ET phone Home."
-ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
I remember watching ET for the first time last year and weeping. I couldn't believe that people downplay this film as a silly movie for children. It is an incredible movie, a profound movie about home. Home is put in it's proper place, the most important thing. It's the story of a family breaking apart from a divorce and a lost alien who is trying to get back home. The children immediately realize the seriousness of his request and longing for something irreplaceable. They can never return to their home. Their home is destroyed and will never exist again. The children fight to get the alien back to his home. I bawled my eyes out. The point of the movie is home. Home is the most magnificent place in the whole universe. Even if you've had a bad childhood, you can create your own home now and make it your own happy place.
Mr. Peasant and I spent ten long years saving to buy our home cash. When we finally moved into our home, Mr. Peasant said to me, "You have arrived." I pondered over this for a long time. I think we spend our whole lives trying to get to the next thing--the next school grade, the next chapter, the next job, the next achievement, the next goal. The problem about always trying to get to the next thing is that you don't realize that you have arrived someplace. I was reminded that we arrived to the goal we had set. And instead of quickly creating a new goal, what if you just sat and enjoyed the goal? What if you just appreciated the place you tried so hard to get. You have arrived. What do you do when you arrive? You live there. You enjoy it. You soak it up. You remain content with it. I call it "blowing out the couch of your life." Get really good and comfy in your life. Use it up like an old couch that sags in the middle. A goal is only worth it if you realize you made it. If you have a home, you have arrived. You have a place to create a world just for you.
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| Grandmother's story (1875), by Pietro Saltini |
The world is constantly telling us that everything good is outside of the home. The best food is at the restaurant. The most fun is somewhere out there. Being home is boring. Tending home is torture. Being sentimental is a bad trait. Always upgrade to something new. It's the wildest thing as an adult to quickly realize that everything that is worthwhile and is the magic sauce of life is inside your home. The home is an ark, a haven from this evil world. It is a place of refuge and peace. How can we praise the Lord for all the good He has done for us if we don't realize that we have arrived? The family, the people, and the memories are the only good, true and beautiful things this life has to offer. The most beautiful place in our whole town is our Catholic Church. The second most beautiful place is our home. Home is where the heart is. After the virus scares of 2020, people rediscovered the love of home. The home is our haven from this weary world.
In this world where we don't make the rules and most things are out of our control, there is one place where we can create our world. We can do things the way WE like it. We are the kings of our castle. We can have our own small scale utopia inside our homes. It doesn't matter if it's a tiny studio apartment or a fixer upper. It doesn't matter if your home has a mountain view or is in suburbia. It doesn't matter if it is magazine pretty or a dump. What does matter is that you can make your place a haven. YOU can fill it with all the sounds and smells and things that bring you comfort. Home is one of my favorite topics. I hope you don't mind me elaborating more on this subject in future posts. But for now, think about your home and the people in it. Your home is yours. You have arrived. Praise God.
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| Blessed Virgin Mary hanging laundry with the child Jesus at her feet. Piotr Stachiewicz |
It was so wonderful to be there, safe at home,
sheltered from the winds and the cold.
Laura thought that this must be a little like heaven,
where the weary are at rest.
LAURA INGALLS WILDER, The Long Winter
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