Together, we ARE home

Home isn’t just a dwelling with walls and a roof. To me, the aroma of my mom’s chicken alfredo floating from the kitchen, the sound of my aunt’s joyous piano soaring to the eaves, my big brother’s homework left undone on the couch, and the soothing softness of the dog’s snoring by the fireplace make it special. Recently, we moved into this new house. And, at first, everything felt so peculiar. The walls were bare- no pictures, no paintings. Our steps echoed eerily in the empty rooms. I wanted to sit, but where? Only the floor was available. And the dog missed his hearth. Even the shower was confusing; it took some time to figure out how to get the water running. It wasn’t like the old house where I knew exactly where my brothers favourite place was on the couch and my mom’s hiding place for brownies and the dog’s treats. But then, something happened. One evening, we all sat together in the living room- Mom laying on the couch, Aunt sitting at the piano, and my brother Taeyang and I drinking hot chocolate on the rug with the dog laying nearby. We were chatting about our new house: the paint on the walls, the new furniture we picked out, and the family pictures we hung up. It felt… cozy. Suddenly, I realized that home isn’t about the place, it’s about the people. Home is where we’re together. Now, every time I walk into this house, I don’t see the new furniture or the newly decorated walls- I see the family that makes it home. Home is where I feel safe, where I feel loved, and where I know I belong.