For many years about this time I have a conversation with my mother... and it revolves around "Coming Home for Christmas". Up until the passing of my grandmother a few years ago, "Coming Home for Christmas" meant going up to Midland, MI... where I never lived. After that, my mom would talk about me going up to her home in Hampton, VA. I loved my grandmother, and enjoyed spending Christmas there... but it wasn't my home... And since I turned 18 and moved to Minneapolis, MN (and later here to Atlanta, GA), my mother's house hasn't been MY home, either...
Home for me is in Georgia. I didn't leave home in a huff... My mother and I get along quite well and talk on the phone once or twice a week. We visit each other a couple times each year... in fact, I was able to spend a little time with her after Thanksgiving during a "road trip" with a friend up to the Washington, DC area. I didn't leave home because I didn't like being there... I left because it was time for me to make MY way in the world.
That was more than 25 years ago... And in that 25+ years, I have lived in Minnesota and here in Georgia. I have a lovely wife and two beautiful little boys. I have a house in Gwinnett County, and have built my life right here for most of the last 20 years.
Home is more than a house... Home is a community. Home is family, even when the "family" is a group of friends. Home is many things to many people. Home is a place of love. Home isn't just a building where you keep your stuff... that is a house.
Obviously, I am a real estate agent. I sell houses... so people will have a place to keep their stuff. Sometimes it can even be an investment. Most often, in addition to buying houses, people are buying homes. Their kids may run through the doors after getting off the school bus... wanting a snack. It could be the place they will open presents with their grandkids. Perhaps one day in the past of the futre it was the scene of someone proposing to their soulmate. Or maybe where they dropped their bags after the honeymoon.
This year, my mother is coming home for the Holidays... to my home. It isn't the first time, and I hope it won't be the last. Along with my step-father, she'll be able to enjoy time with her grandkids... and her grand-dog. Later, we'll all go over to my in-laws and enjoy family time there. My mother and step-father have begun to think of this as "coming home"... So much so that they are thinking of moving here to Gwinnett County. Aside from family, they have friends here... roots, so to speak.
It is probably too late to buy a house for the holidays this year...
But there are a LOT of holidays next year. And maybe next year you can be the one to ask if your family wants to "come home for the holidays".
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