Searching for Home

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I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstair indoor silences, 

attics explored in solitude, distant noises of gurgling cisterns and pipes, 

and the noise of wind under the tiles. 

Also, of endless books. 

- C.S Lewis 

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Oh Mr. C.S Lewis. 

He has this funny way of always making me feel connected with the world around me. He makes me feel grounded, and capable of anything my wee heart desires. 

The above quote is from his memoir Surprised by Joy. It's one of my favourite excerpts from the book. I feel that it really incapsulates why C.S Lewis wrote the stories he did and why he became a writer. 

Lewis was born in Belfast, though most of his teenage years and beyond seemed to have been spent in England. But, when you read his book you can really feel the nostalgia he held for Belfast and Co.Down, Ireland. He loved his home country. He loved home, but spent most of his life away from the country that inspired so much of his writing.  

The Mourne Mountains, thought to have inspired The Chronicles of Naria

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As for the Earth, the country I grew up in had everything to encourage a romantic bend, 

had indeed done so ever since I first looked at the unattainable Green Hills through the nursery window...my main haunt was the Holywood Hills

- Excerpt from Surprised by Joy

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Now, today's post isn't about C.S Lewis. I'll save that for another day, but instead it's about home. Where home is, and how one finds home.

Moving away from Canada has probably been one of the most difficult transitions in my life. Yet, with this being so difficult for me, I find comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. So many people go through life changes like this at some stage in their lives. For instance, my parents left Poland in the 80s to search for a better life. They left behind their family, and took a leap of faith when immigrating to Canada. They  wanted their children to grow up in a country with many more opportunities than they ever had. I can't even imagine what that transition was like. New country, new language(s), new everything. But you know what? They made it work. They stuck through, they searched out how to get through tough times together without being in their home country. Now if you ask them where they feel the most at home, they'll tell you - Canada. I'm forever grateful for their decision to immigrant to Canada. I love Canada. I adore the country I was born and rised. 

However, now I'm in Ireland, searching for home. But what is home anyway? Is it where you were born? Is it where your parents live? What happens when your parents move out of your childhood home, do you suddenly get this sense of homelessness? I have a friend whose parents moved out of her childhood home, and she went through a bit of 'homelessness' phase. Scary. Or is home simply a state of mind, and within you no matter where you are. Man, that's deep isn't it?

My Mom's garden back home...

Well, I suppose I'm still searching for home here in Ireland. Thankfully I'm surrounded by amazing people, and a boy that cares about me. Plus, I have some great friends back in Canada that remind me that there's still a home for me there no matter how far away I am. 

So what I am the product of? 

I am the product of a loving family, the harmonious sounds of an accordion, hours of singing in front of the mirror, endless imagination, sundaes in the afternoon, drawing on walls, and 

the smiles of Gene Kelly. 

Maybe that's what home is. 

Home is who you are, and the memories within you.

What do you think?

Keep Smiling, 

M. 

My Dad and I in the summertime