I still call Australia home

Home is such a curious concept. What is it that makes a place your home?

Is it where you grew up and went to school?

Is it where your family, friends and parents live? My parents live in Melbourne, so to my brother and his growing family. However, this one is tricky when I think about my friends. As it seems that I now have friends dotted about the world – so they are probably not a greater marker for where my home is.

This weekend I am spending a few days in London. So, while I do feel at home here; I can get about central london without a map, tube and buses don’t fuss me. But I am uncertain that it is truly my home. I sat on the tube today and it is not a soft city. You are constantly surrounded by people but always seem to be alone.

As I think about this it may well be that home is not a single place. But a cluster of emotions that occur when you are with people you care about and that care about you. When you are held in an embrace, a friend smiles at you in a knowing way, another laughs, when your Dad and Mum just ring. All these things are part of what creates the cluster of feelings that make you feel at home within your own skin.