Home

As beautiful as the French language is, I have not found a word that encompasses the semantic meaning of home.

A la maison always seems simply a report on one's location and chez moi at my place (rough translations)just doesn't do it.

Home, for me, is as much an emotional state as physical. It can be a tiny house or a mansion.

For me it means where I feel safe. Where I can be totally myself.

Where there is room to laugh, cry, be silly, have good food, have a sense of peace and thousands of other positive words.

Whether I live alone or with someone, doesn't change the feeling unless my co-inhabitor disturbs my sense of well being. That doesn't mean there isn't room for difference of opinion, but they are handled with the idea of solutions, not manipulation or power games. Co-inhabitors want to maximize what everyone wants within the boundaries that always exist to some degree so we can get on with the good things in life, be it sharing a book, going to a movie or taking a walk.

I prefer my home to be color co-ordinated be it my 18 sq. mt. nest or the two-bedroom flat my husband and I share. 

Home is where I can find an ahhhhhhhhhh feeling no matter how long I am there. I may enjoy going away, but coming back is where the ahhhhhhhhhhhh kicks into being.

For the past week plus my husband has been on a business trip. Although I miss him, I am also enjoying my home alone, a healthy thing, but also healthy for our marriage that as good as it is without him, it is much, much better with him. Today I am preparing to welcome him back because I want him to feel that ahhhhhhhhhhh feeling when he walks thru the door.

Our apartment may be our physical home, but I want our marriage to be an emotional home for both of us. 

I don't even want to try and translate that concept into French.