I called this particular installment “Arrival” because everyone needs at least one place in their lifetime when they can experience that feeling. Where you are greeted by a combination of familiar sights, sounds, or scents and suddenly become relaxed and rooted on this earth.
It is possible to occupy numerous homes in one’s life that offer you this, just like it’s possible to have multiple beloved pets or a separate rewarding career. But there’s always a risk should you find just one place that sings to your soul. If you should leave it for a distant town, or even another street and then face a completely different scene when you open the front door, you then have to rely upon this latest version to provide all those little things about home that lie beyond the practical or the convenient.
Those moments when you are alone in a place you love. You look around. You see signs of yourself everywhere on walls and shelves or just outside in the yard. To be totally surrounded by what will reflect you back. And no one else ever has to notice.
William Faulkner found his forever home, Rowan Oak, when he was well into adulthood. The house was nearly a century old and in disrepair. William Faulkner lovingly brought it back to health, making many of the necessary renovations himself. The driveway up to the house was lined by tall cedars on either side – as fine a welcome back as anyone would want. Though the preference is always to stay, the best places make you feel safer about venturing out into the world.
Faulkner could actually put these feelings into words: “Some days in late August at home are like this, with something in it sad and nostalgic and familiar.” And so. Next time.
Song, Artist, Album
Once In A Lifetime, Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
Feel Like Going Home, Muddy Waters, Rare and Unissued
Get Back, Beatles, Let It Be
My Window Faces The South, Barry and Holly Tashian, At Home
Our House, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Déjà Vu
Our House, Madness, Madness
Pink Houses, John Mellencamp, Uh Huh
Isn’t It Nice To Be Home Again?, James Taylor, Mud Slide Slim
Washboard Blues, Mildred Bailey, Columbia Recordings
When A House Is Not A Home, Roger Miller, The Best / Vol. 1
A House Is Not A Home, Dionne Warwick, Her All Time Greatest Hits
Home Again, Carole King, Tapestry
