Home is where the heart is
on Jen's Indian Adventure (India), 24/May/2010 05:51, 34 days ago
I’d been wondering what to blog about until my sister-in-law commented that it was a quite ‘Facebook day’ due to the sunny day yesterday in Ireland. Her comment made me think of home and my current connection(s) to it.I may be living 7173 kilometres from home (Ireland to India– couldn’t find Limerick to Bhubaneswar on Google) but where exactly is home?Nearly every evening I get to speak with my parents and Bailey (the love of my life) thanks to the wonderful invention that is Skype. We generally have very little to say. The conversation usually goes‘Hi, any news?’, ‘No, you?’, ‘No’. And then we move on to the hot topic of the weather. But it is very nice to speak with them. And more importantly keeps the contact constant. I can only imagine what it must have been like years ago before Skype and the cell phone.Last week I had the great privilege of being able to sing (wrong word really but you get the idea)‘Happy Birthday’ to my niece, E, who turned 5 the previous day. I was also read a lovely story by her older brother J (7 to be 8 in June, so there’ll be another wonderful rendition soon), who was doing his maths homework when I first placed the call. Within a few minutes he had interrupted E’s and my conversation with the very mature comment ‘E be quiet. I’m trying to run a business here’. I didn’t get much out of their older sister A as she was quite depressed. Her hero and the current poster pin-up, ROG (Munster rugby player) is seemingly moving to France – so what to do ? !It may only have been 10 minutes of me speaking, them shouting and their mum trying to get a word in, but it meant a lot to be able to spend this time with them. They don’t understand why I’m out here in India (and why would they?) only that their aunt is out here for a year but will be home before Christmas.It is interesting to experience people’s reactions when you make a decision to leave home, your normal routine and volunteer as a development worker.Some friends are amazing and keep in regular contact. Others contact you now and then with one or two line emails just so that they keep in touch. Others unfortunately (and understandably) just get on with their lives and I spend time wondering if I’ll be a part of it again when I get home.But whether long or short all contact means a lot. And to be still getting emails that start with‘Hey Boss…’ even though it’s been a while makes me smile.Those who keep in touch really have no idea how much their contact means. I previously mentioned this to the one who will be known from now on as‘The Trouper’, but her reply was very honest – ‘Jennifer I know what it’s like having lived abroad’. So I guess you have it. You have to have experienced living away from home to understand how important contact with home is while you’re away.So to answer the question I asked at the start– where is home? That’s easy. Where the hills are green, there are four seasons in one day, and of course, family. (That includes you Bailey)