Home is Everything

Home is where my family lives, where we share stories, worries and memories , where our bonds become strong, and where I feel accepted and safe. Home is where I learn my roots, where I tell right from wrong, and where I can sleep on a comforting, reassuring bed without worries. Home is where I grow and respect my family, where I learn my culture and traditions, where I gain knowledge to work through life’s ebbs and flows. Home is where my brother and I tussle, where all our worries and stressful thoughts are washed away by laughter and smiles. Home is where I smell my grandmother’s famous dumplings, which brings us together with love and warmth at the dinner table. Home is where I wake up on Sunday mornings, to create pancakes with my mother, and where I have the freedom to put as much sticky maple syrup onto my pancakes as I want to. Home is the hockey rink, where my skates carve deep, clean lines through the ice, where my presence is valued, respected and honoured. Home is lighting the colourful lanterns, leaving them to hang during the Lunar New Year. Home is a sweet mooncake, the inside full of flavour, adorned with beautiful waving patterns. Home is the nature around us, the leaves dancing in the wind, the chirps of all the morning birds, and the flowers that grow out in a field. Home is the remedy for a bad day, where a warm hug, a set of listening ears, a hot cup of cocoa and a chorus of empathetic voices are. Home is where I can feel at peace, where I feel loved, where I feel content. To me, home is not just four walls and a roof, home is everything.