Definition of a home

The definition of "home", is "one's place of residence, the social unit formed by a family living together, a familiar or usual setting, focus of one's domestic attention;  also a place where you are comfortable or relaxed".

The definition of "house", is "a building that serves as living quarters for a family, a building in which something is housed, a shelter or refuge for wild animals".

I have been thinking a lot about "home" this summer.  I have lived in so many places over the years that it seems like all of those places can't be called home.  Until coming to Ohio, whenever I said I was going home, it referred to where I grew up, where my parents house now is, in PA.  Most of those other places, according to the definitions above, were just "houses"... A place where I lived at the time.

That home in PA is where all of those family memories are/were ... There was always a sense of security in the fact that I could always go "home".  Now that mom has passed away, it has no longer felt like home.  It's just been a place where dad lives for now.  It has felt more like a "house".  As we packed up the house this summer I had this panicked thought of, "I no longer have a home to go to".  Well that's really not true.

Sure, we make our houses, homes, by decorating them, doing life, making memories, socializing, etc.  but they are still just houses.  Homes are places where we feel relaxed, safe and comfortable, where our friends and family are.  What makes our houses "homes"?

Family
Friends
A familiar place
Where we feel safe
Where we can relax and be ourselves

Home is people, houses are memories.