In eleven short days I’m going ‘home’ for the first time in a year. Home, however, is a relative term for me. I am returning to the place I was born, the place where my father owns a house and I have very many memories and good friends. The place I’ve lived for the majority of my life, however sporadically, and where I attended and graduated high school. But does that make it home?
I’m leaving a place where I have never officially lived, but have been visiting for three years now. I have friends, many friends who I am very close with despite never actually living here. This is a place I feel comfortable, a place where I also have many memories, a place where my mother has an apartment. I feel at home here.
I recently left Italy where I lived and studied for the past year. I had four different apartments while I was there which I shared with different people each time. I lived in four different cities. I am not fluent in Italian and never felt I truly fit in as it is obvious that I am not a local, though I loved my time there and will always have a place in my heart for those cities. Italy gave me great memories. I felt at home there.
I’ve lived in four different places in my life.
In a few months I will be moving, yet again, to a new place. I will be starting over. I have visited this place once and have never seen the student housing I will be living in by myself. If everything goes according to plan I will be living in this place for four years.
Property does not make a home. Time does not make a home (though it does make it easier). Language does not make a home.
Friends and family make a home. Memories make a home. Love makes a home. You make your home.
If you want to you will feel at home. If you try to you will feel at home. If you make the effort and see the positives in a place, if you learn to love it you will call it home. This is something I have learnt from experience. No matter how long (or short) you live there, no matter who lives there with you, no matter why you live there. Call it home and it will become one.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
A kiss.
A kiss is like a touch of magic.
A kiss goodnight, a kiss better, a kiss goodbye. The comforting kiss on the forehead from your loving mother as she tucks you in to bed at night. The welcoming kiss on the cheek from a good friend when you are reunited after time apart. The passionate kiss on the mouth from a lover, expressing how they feel in a way that does not need to be spoken aloud. A kiss is a promise, a remedy, a gift.
On your cheek or on your lips a kiss will always bring a smile to your heart. I dare you to kiss, or be kissed, and not feel it spread through your body. Not feel it’s warmth erupt at the point of origin and pulse happiness from your fingertips to your heart. No matter where you are kissed or by whom I dare you not to feel it in your heart.
A kiss is the only part of fairytales that is not fiction.
A kiss is a dream come true, a granted wish.
A kiss is like a touch of magic.
A kiss goodnight, a kiss better, a kiss goodbye. The comforting kiss on the forehead from your loving mother as she tucks you in to bed at night. The welcoming kiss on the cheek from a good friend when you are reunited after time apart. The passionate kiss on the mouth from a lover, expressing how they feel in a way that does not need to be spoken aloud. A kiss is a promise, a remedy, a gift.
On your cheek or on your lips a kiss will always bring a smile to your heart. I dare you to kiss, or be kissed, and not feel it spread through your body. Not feel it’s warmth erupt at the point of origin and pulse happiness from your fingertips to your heart. No matter where you are kissed or by whom I dare you not to feel it in your heart.
A kiss is the only part of fairytales that is not fiction.
A kiss is a dream come true, a granted wish.
A kiss is like a touch of magic.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
A love letter to Florence
When a girl falls in love for the first time she will remember it for the rest of her life. She will remember his face and his hands, or maybe his arms and how she fit between them. She will remember his voice and the feeling- above all the feeling. The bliss and the beauty of the world when she was with him, the ‘can-do-no-wrong’ way she saw him, and the indescribable happiness with which he filled her heart. That memory will be her most valued memory. Even when the magic comes to an end and she cries and mourns and then she moves on. Even when she finds someone else, maybe even someone better. Her first love will always be her strongest.
That is how I feel about you.
You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me. You were my first love: the first one to creep into my heart and stay, to crawl into my mind and fill it with joy. You could do, and can do no wrong in my eyes. Your faults are not faults, but contribute to your beauty. With you I could not be unhappy, a bad day was a good day in comparison to the rest of my bad days. You saved me. You came to me (or, rather, I to you) when I needed you most, but you welcomed me with open arms and loved me as I loved you. You wiped away my tears, you calmed my fears, you comforted me and erased all my bad memories. The world was better when I was with you. I have not been as happy since, or felt as loved or loved as much. There have been others, but none the same. None have loved me as you did and I could not love another more. I would not betray you. Though I cried when it came to an end and though I was sad and hurt I knew you did not want our end any more than I did. I knew we wanted to be together forever. We shared the same hopes and dreams; no one could come between us. But our time came to an end and I had to leave you though I did not want to. Leaving you was the hardest part because loving you was so easy. Wait for me, I will return. Remember be, I will never forget you. Love me as I love you: forever.
Io sono tuo,
Tara.
That is how I feel about you.
You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me. You were my first love: the first one to creep into my heart and stay, to crawl into my mind and fill it with joy. You could do, and can do no wrong in my eyes. Your faults are not faults, but contribute to your beauty. With you I could not be unhappy, a bad day was a good day in comparison to the rest of my bad days. You saved me. You came to me (or, rather, I to you) when I needed you most, but you welcomed me with open arms and loved me as I loved you. You wiped away my tears, you calmed my fears, you comforted me and erased all my bad memories. The world was better when I was with you. I have not been as happy since, or felt as loved or loved as much. There have been others, but none the same. None have loved me as you did and I could not love another more. I would not betray you. Though I cried when it came to an end and though I was sad and hurt I knew you did not want our end any more than I did. I knew we wanted to be together forever. We shared the same hopes and dreams; no one could come between us. But our time came to an end and I had to leave you though I did not want to. Leaving you was the hardest part because loving you was so easy. Wait for me, I will return. Remember be, I will never forget you. Love me as I love you: forever.
Io sono tuo,
Tara.
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