Where we can go as we are...

Our friend, P, visited this week; shared exquisite photos from his family’s trip to Europe, where he met members of his extended family and visited the farm of his ancestors. What stood out to him was the sense of home he felt there. That this was where he fit in the family tree, where he felt rooted.

That sense of home. What is home? A place? House? Town? Is it with family or friends where you feel like you best fit? Or perhaps a special connection with your job, occupation, life work? That what you are creating and doing reflects a deep part of your inner essence?

There are stories of people who visit a place they’ve never been and quickly felt at home there. Also of meeting someone and feeling as if you’ve known them for years. That "click" of recognition.

We all want to belong to something; a family, a group, a place, a society where we feel valued. A place that resonates with something deep within us. For some, it happens when they are young; for others, it takes years of searching. And some of us are still on the road, hoping for an entry…

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The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.
~ Maya Angelou

My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and just walking down the street, it was like roots, like the motherland. I knew I belonged here.
~ Oprah Winfrey

Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest, which co-mingle their roots in the darkness underground.
~ William James