Friday, 09 March 2007 - 20 years in our house

Dear God:

Today, I am thankful for 20 years of living in our Colorado Springs house.

There's no place like home. ~Dorothy in the movie, The Wizard of Oz
Home is where you find your heart. ~greeting card message

I wrote the following the poem in 2002. That summer, the Hayman fire, the largest fire in Colorado history, destroyed 133 structures and forced 5,340 people to evacuate their homes. I was interested in the meaning of home in the wake of such destruction. I now reprint the poem as a tribute to our house.

When House Becomes Home

The moment
House becomes home,
The building transforms
From brick and mortar
To keeper of history.
It captures the breadth and depth
Of all things -
Past, present, future -
Arising from the regular rhythms,
The mundane highs and lows,
The tedious ins and outs of
Everyday life.

When home is threatened,
We grab what we can
To preserve, not the building,
But the life contained within.
Home, after all, is not about
Four walls and a yard.
Home is
You and me,
Our stories and memories -
Each tied to that time, and
Anchored to this place,
The old familiar stage
On which we play
Ourselves.

For this blessing, I am grateful.

Amen.