When I think of home

When I think of home, I don’t think of a house that I’ve lived in. In my lifetime I’ve lived in five houses, two places in China and three places in Canada. Each home has had a different experience for me. Whether it was the big neighborhood in Beijing or the apartment in Oakville, no home in particular stood out. What connected all of them was that I spent almost every single moment with loved ones in them. Whether it’s just me and my mom or my whole family, these were the times that created meaning and made a house feel like home. To me, home is like a feeling that you can only achieve when you have the warmth of other people or things you love. It’s when my family gathers up for Lunar New Year, to celebrate a new year and another year of being together. It’s also every summer when I go back to China, seeing all my relatives again and having a great time with them, it all feels like home. I don’t think home has to be physical for you to know it’s there, the moment when you laugh or feel loved, that is the feeling of being at home.