Home to Me

Home to me is where my family and I celebrate birthdays, As well as Diwali and Navratri. It is where we gather together after a morning of sledding in a nearby park, Mugs of steaming hot chocolate warming frozen fingers and toes As we all sit laughing at each other’s chocolate mustaches! Home is the place where my sister and I settle down to do our homework, With Ammamma watching over us until Amma and Appa return home From a long day at work. It is where arguments will no doubt arise, But be forgotten as easily as forgetting to take off my earrings Before I go to bed. Home is the smell of Ammamma’s amazing mutton or beet-root curry And yellow rice, or the nasty taste of vomit as we take Amma’s home remedy To help us get better when we are sick. In that moment, it is a room full of wrinkled up noses and scrunched up faces As we choke the evil potion down. Home is where I learned to ride a bike, and to skate On the ice rink that daddy made for us in our backyard. It is the place where hundreds gather to celebrate my aunt's bridal shower - Generations, from around the world, gathering in our garden To paint our hands and feet with Henna, beautifying the bride, Honoring the marriage soon to come. Home is where I long to be when we are Away on a trip, where Daddy's photos Line the walls there to welcome us home upon our return. It is the place where I am grateful to climb into my comfy, cozy Bed after brushing my teeth and waiting Until my Daddy comes to give me a kiss goodnight.