What Makes a Home

I'm really good at falling in love with whatever is currently home. I currently love our old coal fireplace that is purely decoration, and how the old green tiles still tell the stories of how they are original to these walls. I currently love our tall ceilings and tall windows that let in the most glorious morning and afternoon sun. I currently love our long layout and being able to see Morty snoozing on the couch while I make dinner. I currently love how all of our furniture and decorations feel like they were meant to be in an apartment like this, they've been waiting for this moment.

But you know what? I've felt that way about each place that we've called home. At our first apartment, I love the open layout and how we could have 20 friends spend the night sprawled out in sleeping bags across our living room. In our last house, I loved looking out the window while I was doing dishes to see the birds visiting the bird feeders. I loved the imperfections in the creaky hardwood floors, and I love the intimacy of a little bungalow house in the heart of downtown. But with each of these homes, I've always felt like our belongings fit perfectly into place. No matter where I am, with my favorite items and my favorite beings (S and Mort), I feel so in love with our home. 

While in a purely perfect hygge moment (a glass of red wine, a candle burning, a tidy apartment), I was admiring the space around me and I got to thinking about the concept of home. The concept of home is really special to me. When I was learning French, I learned that they do not have a direction translation for "home." Instead, they only have "house" as in my house (chez moi) or Mort's house (chez Mort). To me, it seems a shame to be missing the sense of "home" from a language. For me, it's being surrounded by my favorite things, some I've made,some we've collected from antique stores or our travels, others were handed down to us. But all of these items are special to us, in one way or another, or else they wouldn't be in our home. Having S + Mort, and our favorite things, really makes any apartment or house, a home.