Far From Home

I didn't have a chance to post for this week's 'Totally Optional Prompt' about home, but I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the idea of home. I've been in this house for fifteen years. From the moment we moved in, the old brick tudor felt like home. Over the years, we have repainted, renovated, raised two children, and sheltered many pets, including several dogs, pet rats, and a lizard.

While we enjoy traveling, there is something intensely satisfying about returning home to our familiar routines and rituals. And even when we do travel, we generally travel together, as a family, bringing something of 'home' with us.

A week ago, we opened our home to a lovely young woman studying at an area University. She has traveled to the US from Kyrgyzstan. I cannot imagine I had the maturity or the confidence at age 24 to move a half a world away to an unfamiliar and overwhelming culture, and study in a language other than my mother tongue. That she is doing this, says much about her character and her inner strength.

I know our family will learn an enormous amount from her. I'm thrilled that my sons have the opportunity to understand something about a culture so vastly different from theirs. Already they have looked for Kyrgyzstan on the map and we have talked about the former Soviet Union and how so much has changed in Asia over the past two decades.

And while I know suburban Boston is an alien landscape, I hope that she will consider this home to be her home, at least in some small measure.