coming home

I'm coming home, coming home....tell the world that I'm coming home...

Currently, I cannot get that song out of my head because it is so very apt.  Like many of us around thanksgiving time, I'm going home to the house I grew up in. Unlike many of us, my hubby and I will be staying in said home indefinitely as we look for a (tiny) house to buy.

When one comes home, lots of interesting things happen. Sometimes we sleep more (and super well) feeling comforted in the place we great up..  Often we eat our favorite home-cooking. We can also fall into the same argument cycles with parents (when are you going to graduate school?? How are your mutual fund investments still so low?? Why did you quit your high-paying corporate job to do health consulting again??). But when we MOVE home, or even think about it, a whole new shift happens.

We have to somehow merge our current almost-30-year-old-life with glints and glimmers (or overt celebrations in some cases) of our four-year-old, nine-year-old, and fourteen-year-old selves. This is no easy task. It may involve the physical moving of things like Breyer horses and pictures off teen heartthrobs still glued to the back of one's door. It may also involve the swallowing of one's pride, picking one's battles and finding a higher perspective from which to view the events, disagreements, and argument-patterns that transpire. 

I know that I am very lucky to be able to move home temporarily instead of paying exorbitant rent as I house hunt.  I'm also very fortunate to have both of my parents still around; after my Dad's stroke two years ago, this is something I no longer take for granted. 

So instead of feeling super weird or embarrassed to spend the holidays (and perhaps a bit beyond) fully at home, I've decided to embrace it.  Yes, there will be much more watching of dancing with the stars, a longer commute to see my clients in DC, and a lack of house-wide enthusiasm for fresh-pressed green juice, but that's OK.  

I know there will also be a lot more bonding time with family, a lot of connection time, and a lot of love. And that is something I'm really quite excited about.