What is Home

“Ada! Wake up! It’s almost time to go!” Her mom calls from downstairs. Ada rolls out of bed looking around at the empty room that used to hold all her stuff. Books, games, posters, photos and toys. Gone, everything packed away in boxes that would soon be loaded onto a truck. As Ada got ready for the long car ride she breathed in the smells of her dad cooking waffles. She listened to the birds outside and watched them feed from the birdfeeder. She would miss mornings like these. Dad could still cook waffles at the new house but it wouldn’t be the same, eating at a different table in a different kitchen. Of course there would still be birds but Ada wouldn’t get to see the woodpeckers that lived in the forest behind her house. Her new house would be closer to the city, with more people and less wildlife. As she ate her waffles, with strawberries and maple syrup she wondered what life would be like at her new house. Ada was excited but also nervous and scared- how could the new house be the same? “The new house won’t be the same, but we’ll make it a new home” says her dad, as if reading her mind. Then they head outside and get into the car, with the moving truck following behind bringing everything they owned. “We’re here!” dad proclaims with a smile. They work hard to make the house their home. Later in the year they pass through their old neighborhood and see their old house that looks nothing like they remember. Ada realizes a home is not a building, it is the things and people inside the building. A house is different from a home. You can be in a house without being home.