Thankful: it feels like home

I caught myself thinking last night as I reloaded this dishwasher that what so recently felt so new, now feels like home.  After all, it was only a short two months ago that I said farewell to our old home.  Was it really only in August that we moved our things in the rain and settled in?

I am so thankful for this place and that my feet already know the path up and down the steep stairs at night.  It always seems that I forgot to do one last thing.  Did I set the timer on the coffee?  Down the stairs.  Did I turn the heat up for when it gets cold on these Autumn nights?  Another trip up and down these  stairs:

As I sat around the table last night with some longtime friends, in our new house, I realized again that this feels just as much like home as anywhere else we have been.  It is truly because my people are here.   And where my people are, that is where I will call my home.  

When I sit on the couch and light my candles in the fireplace, it feels like home.  When we drive in and grab the mail out of the mailbox on our front porch, it feels like home.  Granted I used to walk into my front hallway and it would be there on the floor because we had the greatest little mail cubby right into our house.  Either way, my mail is still right out the front door.

My days and my feet have has learned all of these little pathways that I am just now becoming aware of, reminding me how settled I feel in some ways.  Sure, everything isn’t perfect and some things still haven’t found spots but we are here and we aren’t going anywhere.

One of my favorite things has always been doing my fall decorating and for sure that is a sign of a cozy and inviting place to be so maybe that has helped soften the transition.  I’m seeing my old stuff in new places.  Like here:

Here:

And here, right next to me while I write:

Maybe that is the thing to remember when you are in a new home or in a new place in life.  That even though your location is different, you still bring with you all of your experiences and relationships, if not your possessions.  I am finding that the things I have remind me of where we have been but they are not what make it home.  I said it before and I will say it again:

where my people are, that is where I will call my home.