There’s No Place Like Home

In L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz, there is a very memorable scene where Dorothy wants to leave the land of Oz. It is revealed that Dorothy can return home by simply closing her eyes, clicking the heels of her ruby slippers together three times, and repeating the phrase, "There's no place like home." The word home can mean many different things to different people. Beyond the structure and the walls, my front door and windows, home is a feeling, tradition, and comfort. Home is a feeling. It’s the feeling of love when I’m building a snowman with my sister in our front yard, and catching snowflakes on my tongue as my mother is making hot chocolate for us on a cold winter’s day. It’s the feeling of adventure when I can pretend to be a mermaid, searching for treasure at the bottom of my pool, as my dad and sister cause waves above from racing from one end to the other. It’s the feeling of chaos when we’re hurrying to eat dinner and rushing out the door to swim and gymnastics lessons and the dirty dishes remain in the sink for some time later. Home is tradition. It’s time spent on a Sunday afternoon with my grandfather, learning how to make pizza like he made in Italy. It’s setting up our garage to make tomato sauce on the last long weekend of every summer. It’s a family affair with lots of laughing and hard work; cutting up tomatoes, filling jars with sauce and basil and then enjoying a delicious family lunch when all the work is done. It’s a cousin’s sleepover every Canada Day, filled with a hot day in the pool, the smell of my dad’s barbecue, and enjoying s'mores around the fire at night as the colours of the fireworks light up the sky. Home is comfort. It’s the comfort of knowing that once I step through my front door, I can be myself. I can take my favourite book from the pile on my shelf, put on a cozy sweater, lie on my bed, and enjoy the story while everything else is going on outside. It’s looking at the framed photos of my family on the walls, thinking about how much I am loved. It's a comfort to know that no matter what I do, there are people rooting for me to be the best I can be or teaching me how to do better. It’s being huddled under a warm blanket with my sister, on a stormy night, knowing that I am safe and sheltered from the wind and rain. Habitat for Humanity’s vision is a world where everyone has a place to live, a home. We all have a need for a place to call home-our gathering place, our shelter, our sanctuary. People may go on vacations and travel around the world, teenagers may leave their family dwellings to go to college and university, and some people might be chasing what’s over the rainbow, but in the end, Dorothy had it right, “There’s no place like home.”