Home, Sweet Home

Home Wikipedia"A home is a place where a person or family lives, perhaps spends much of their time, or where a person is comfortable being. While a house (or other residential dwelling) is often referred to as a home, the concept of "home" is broader than a physical dwelling. Home is often a place of refuge and safety, where worldly cares fade and the things and people that one loves becomes the focus. Many people think of home in terms of where they grew up, or a time rather than a place."

Two weeks ago, I went 'home'...back to the small island of Douglas, Alaska where I grew up and where I find my refuge, my safety, my roots and my family. It is a place that carries an energy like no other. I walked on this sandy beach, looking at remnants of the old gold mine and surrounded by the water and looking up at the sweeping spanses of mountain views all around, I felt truly protected, truly held and encompassed by the loving neutrality of Mother Earth.

As I celebrated milestones with my mother and father, greeted brothers, sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins, I couldn't help but reflect on all that 'home, sweet home' implies.

It was not the place, nor the people, nor the activities...it was just 'home' to me. It was my deepest contact and interaction with the core of who I am and who I see myself as being. It was busy and challenging and filled with many healing moments as all of us learned to live together or celebrate together in one large, old house.

I gave my two quilts, the 'mother' quilt, and the 'father' quilt...and they were greatly loved and appreciated. I felt the joy of being able to sew, to quilt and to share that gift with others. Now,I want to sew and I want to quilt. But now I have to find my community spirit again...the one that sews with others for those I will never meet or ever know. I have to reach beyond my own wants and desires to communal ones, to sharing ones for a broader good, again.

So, I will take my 'home' and expand it. I will use what I have been given to give to others. I will make community quilts that will reflect on all that is home...ones that will offer refuge, even safety, ones that will hold and encompass and maybe even protect. Ones that will feel just like family to someone who needs to feel all that I was given during my own visit home. This is the gift and joy of home and it is also the gift of a quilt.