A home is a place of residence or refuge.[1] When it refers to a building, it is usually a place in which an individual or a family can live and store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either living in the wild or shared with humans in a domesticated environment. “Home” is also used to refer to the geographical area (whether it be a suburb, town, city or country) in which a person grew up or feels they belong, or it can refer to the native habitat of a wild animal. Sometimes, as an alternative to the definition of “home” as a physical locale (“Home is where you hang your hat”), home may be perceived to have no physical location, instead, home may relate instead to a mental or emotional state of refuge or comfort. Popular sayings along these lines are “Home is where the heart is” or “You can never go home again”.
This week I had the opportunity to go “Home†to visit my parents with my 12 year old daughter and decided to drive her past the ranches I grew on………..wow! I guess the phrase “you can never go home†refers to how different the home is when you go back!
The Old ranch on Mt. Madonna that once grew fertile rows of flowers is now a horse ranch, the old oak tree that was home to my swing is gone and so is the fabulous old barn where we would sit on bales of hay and tell ghost stories. When I stopped in front of the driveway the horses in the front pasture seemed to beckon to me to come home, but this isn’t my home anymore, it is someone else’s dream home.
We drove past my old schools too; Salsipuedes is now called Alianza, but Amesti is still Amesti. The rows of apple trees are still there on Green Valley Rd. and the outer edges of town is still fertile and growing food, tractors and flatbed trucks are still in fashion, so it may not be my original home anymore, but Watsonville is still what I call my home town.
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