AlisonsFinalDefiniton


As described in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, home is one’s place of residence. I couldn’t disagree with this statement more. That definition is so vague, home is so much more than just where someone lives, home is where the heart is. I know that that statement is so cliché, but it means so much. Home is where there is a sense of comfort and security. It is a place of love and happiness. It’s where you can go and be yourself. There are people there that will embrace you with open arms. Where you know that there will always be a light on for you so you don’t trip and stumble when coming home during the wee hours of the morning. Home isn’t just the place where you sleep at night; home is a sense of feeling and the people inside of a structure.

 

A lot of people would say that home is wherever they lay their head at night. Most college students would probably consider their dorm room their home, but I don’t. I hate it when I talk to my boyfriend at night and he says, “Are you home,” my answer to him is always no. My dorm room is by no means my home, it is only the place where I sleep at night and do my work at. It has no qualities that make it a home. Yes, it has four walls, I sleep there at night, and it is where I spend most of my time, but that doesn’t make it home. Dorm rooms aren’t comfortable. There isn’t anyone there that is going to take care of you when you are sick. No one will leave the light on for you when you come in late at night and most importantly there is no sense of love and happiness.

 

Why do people consider the place where they routinely sleep home? Consider how their position may conflict/fit with yours.

 

Home is really the people that live inside a structure. It is the people that make a home, because they are the ones that provide a sense of security. People are the ones that show each other love and compassion.

 

When I say that people make up a home, I don’t necessarily mean parents. It can be anyone that cares for you, anyone that gives you that sense of security, and anyone that will greet you at the door with open arms. Some people may live with their parents, but they aren’t necessarily the ones that show them love and support throughout life. To some, their parents are just the people that they are forced to live with. Some may consider their grandparents house, their friends house, or another relative’s house to be their home.

 

There are two places that I consider to be my home, the house where my parents live and my aunt and uncle’s house. Both of these structures hold the characteristics that I believe make up a home. The house where my parents live is the house that I grew up in. It isn’t necessarily the structure that makes it home; it’s the fact that it is where my parents live. It is the place where my brother, sister, and I come back to when we feel like we need a sense of security. It’s the one place in the world that I feel most comfortable at. It is my safety zone. When I first walk through the doors I get that sense of happiness. It is the place where I can go to for support, where there will always be an endless amount of love waiting for me at the door.

 

My aunt and uncles house holds the same feeling. When I went back to Liberty this past weekend I went over to see my aunt and uncle and just walking through their front door and hearing my aunt say “Who’s there” made it home. I knew right away that I was walking into a place where I would be safe and protected. That I was walking into a home filled with people that would love me for the rest of my life that would always be there for me, that would take on the role of my parents if I ever needed them too. That is what makes their house home to me.

 

I am sure that no two people would consider home to be the exact same thing. I say that home isn’t any sort of building, a building can burn down or you can move from one place to another, but it’s the people that make up a home. No matter what you do in life or where you go, you will have the same support group of people to go home to. They can move around just like you can, but wherever they go will become your new home. It is that sense of security that’s never lost. It’s the feeling of always knowing that someone will be around to listen to you complain or to give you a hug when you need one. A home is the one thing in your life that you can never loose.