Home

Home!  Such a wonderful word.
Going home for the holidays; going home after a hard day's work; at home we are safe, we can lay our burdens down, if only for a bit. We can enjoy our family, entertain our friends and just be ourselves. We can eat ice cream out of the carton if we want to.

Home is supposed to be a haven from the world, but we diminish the safety and comfort of our home in the most innocuous ways.

What destroys the peace of our homes? Well, gossip for one. We get home and all we can think to do is complain and criticize our fellow workers and our boss.  We gripe and carry on over traffic, the cost of fuel, and we complain about and deride the company that we work for. This happens every day.
To a point, it is a good thing to :vent" and release these caustic feelings and emotions.
But only to a point. Few of us live alone, we have spouses and children that populate the home we live in.
Husbands, wives, children(in-laws and extended family sometimes) come home for the smae peace and comfort that we seek.

We poison the very place of solace and safety that we need(and yearn for) by allowing the "media" to invade our homes. We turn on the tv to watch the evening news. Kids are tuned into ipods, ipads, xboxes etc...home yet we all retreat into a shell that brings the outside world in. sitcoms full of sexual innuendo, derision of the parents na dhorrible behavior of the kids; music and videos replete with the same. This goes on night after night. We are surprised when our kids and spouses begin to mimic what they see and hear.
How hard would it be to turn off the tv and talk to one another.
Years ago, conversation around the table was the norm. Sadly, today, few if any of us gather at a dinner table  or any table for that matter.
Kids have sports and activities, we have meetings and fsocial events....we gather at home in time to go to bed. We grab breakfast on the run and pick up dinner on the way home. We give our kids money so they can buy their meals out. Funny thing about this is that we actually take time to have a nice lunch with co workers or friends.
Eating at home, cooking at home..not done too much anymore
I wonder if we could make an effort to play a game, work on a puzzle, have a family budget meeting, take an evening walk...how hard can that be?
I am still on the theme of "can one person make a difference", at home...anywhere???
I believe it to be so.
My spouse humors me by turning off the television and playing dominoes with me. We have included his brother from time to time....we have fun, we laugh...and we keep score...it is becoming a nightly ritual and we are both enjoying it.

I think it is still possible to reclaim our lives ..or even a portion of them for ourselves. We should make the effort....the dividends paid will surprise you.