What Home Means to Me

The definition of the four-letter word ‘home’ is “a place where a person lives permanently”. I think otherwise. As a person who has moved houses, I know the feeling of leaving something I truly called home. The sadness of leaving thousands of memories, yet the excitement for a new beginning. Always wondering, ‘did we make the right decision?’. The ‘I wish we never moved!’ and the ‘I’m so happy we moved!’. However, you forget about your previous home. You forget all the times you fight with your sister in the tiny hallway, all the times where you chased your dog in loops around the shoe closet and the wall. All the times you sat in the living room watching the television, when all of a sudden, the longing of going back comes to you. All the times that you biked to the park that was only a few blocks away. All the times you told yourself that you would make friends with your neighbour, but never even spoke to them. And of course, all the times you spent there with your family. I was lucky I was even able to move homes. People around the world in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, California and many more do not have the liberty to move around. And so, I thank my parents for choosing to come from a country that does not have any equal rights, such as male and female rights, to music and dancing being allowed, towards a peaceful and free country. Home is a place that you can be with your loved ones, a place where you can make memories you will remember forever, and most of all, a place where you can be free. That is the meaning of home to me.