Being :: Home

Being: Conscious, mortal existence; life.

Every month we welcome two families, two people, two voices to share their stories in whatever way they chose. We hope that you find joy in their daily lives, and their simple habit of just being.

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We live in a sweet and cozy little home sandwiched between the forest and the sea. Warmth radiates from the woodstove in the winter, bringing us together to thaw our chilled fingers and toes after a long day of play in the snowy forest. On warm summer days the ocean breeze cools us as we sit on the front porch sipping icy tea, as we watch the boats bob on the bay. And of course our neighbors are amazing.

We feel lucky. We know we are blessed to occupy this space. But thoughts of home sometimes fill our days. What does it mean to be home? Is it a location at all? Is it a frame of mind or a space occupied by our bodies? Or both? Since leaving our native coast of California for the foreign shores of Nova Scotia these ideas have been tossed around frequently. Being home seems to encompass so much more than walking through the door opened by the turn of a key.

Admittedly some members of our family have had an easier transition to this new “home” than others. Those of us who have had the freedom to totally immerse ourselves in the natural world have come to feel familiar with this place. More and more at home with each passing year.

Along the way that same freedom has allowed us to create friendships with like-minded individuals. This too has helped to ease the feelings of being odd just because we are “from away.” And from California of all places!

As the garden takes root we feel more anchored to this little plot of land. With each wee harvest learning the ways of things in a climate so different from what we have known, so different from home.

When we first arrived one gaping hole that made it feel strange to call this place home was the lack of memories. As the years go by it is the memories we return to, the stories we tell, that ground us to a place. The years stretch on and those memories, the ones of this place grow deeper and more entrenched in who we are.

California will always be home but here in our tiny spot on the edge of the Atlantic we are learning to be at home where we are planted… for the moment.

When is a place just a place and when is it home?

Thanks so much to Dawn for her lovely contributions to the Being series this month!  You can continue to follow along with Dawn and her adventures in homeschooling two nature loving kiddos on the Nova Scotia coast by visiting her blog To the Outskirts.

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Rhythm of the Home is an online magazine for families that focuses on creating with children, nature explorations, seasonal celebrations, conscious parenting, and mindfulness in all that we do.   To learn more about us, please visit us on Facebook,Pinterest, and Twitter.

We welcome new submissions for our upcoming seasons. To learn more about submitting, please visit our magazine.