Home

A home is a place of residence or refuge.
As an alternative to the definition of "home" as a physical locale, home may be perceived to have no physical definition—instead, home may relate instead to a mental or emotional state of refuge or comfort. (Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago I talked to a friend who told me that he will return to live with his parents this spring. “Why?” I wondered. My friend is around 45 years old. Where I’m from, moving back home is not the coolest thing to do once you’re past your early twenties... Well, it turns out that the parents of my friend are getting quite old, the end is nearing. He feels that he wants to spend some time with them before they go, to help and to do something useful. And he wants to reconnect with his hometown. And he feels that NOW is the time.

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about what he said, why he returns home. I can really relate to what he’s experiencing, the desire to reconnect. It’s been 14 years since I left Germany. I have always been happy to live away from my home country, often I couldn’t even bear the thought of ever living there again. Even my own mom, who never stops hoping that I come back one day, has told me that she thinks I probably wouldn’t be able to live in Germany any more. Both of my parents enjoy reasonably good health, so in this way there’s no urgency for me to get back. Nevertheless, over the last months I have felt more and more a need to reconnect with the german part in me. Maybe to learn something about myself that I don’t know yet. Or to rediscover something that I might have left behind 14 years ago. Who knows.

Spain is my physical home. And not only that, I have my daughter here, lots of friends, lots of history, lots of emotions. Culturally however, things look a bit different. Culturally I feel a strong pull coming from the North. A feeling of curiousity, of wanting to find out how deep my german roots go. To find out in which culture I feel at home.

So I am off to Germany today for six weeks. Reconnecting with the soil I grew up on and also sowing some new seeds. THE LITTLE BUDDHA has been released in german last month, which means I just need to find some rain now so it grows. And to find rain in Germany, that should be easy ;-)

Home – an emotional state of comfort. I like that. Could be anywhere really.