my island, home —
mediocre seas
make it grand
When we used to live near the Capitol in Bismarck, I might have said that the most beautiful place in the neighborhood was the Capitol grounds. The expansive green lawn populated with statues of local heroes and gardens of native flora. The running path I often used. It was a park and a public space where I would go to fly my RC helicopter or play on the lawn with Mme. Ross and Little Miss Laney.
But when we moved to our new home it was a little different. It’s not that the neighborhood is unsightly in any way, but I just wouldn’t describe any part of it as particularly beautiful. There are really nice houses marked as heritage homes by the historical society and there’s a nice running path behind the high school that never fails to please the eye, but to me there is no place like home; it’s my island. My home base.
Just like the house I grew up in. Every day started and ended at home, with my family –more or less.
And though you can’t change the past, you can always change the future because you never know the shape of it until it’s too late to do anything about it. So I make it a priority to make my home everything I had and more. Because it’s not about the bay window in the kitchen and the front and back decks, the swimming pool, the real wood-burning fireplace, the shrubs and trees and the chain link fence. It’s not about the dutch door at the top of the basement stairs or the piano in the basement, unloved and forgotten.
A family’s home is about family life, and as such my home is a work-in-progress canvas upon which I impose my art. I’m proud of it, and of the work Mme. Ross and I put into shaping it into the most beautiful place in the neighborhood.
There’s no place like home — after all, that’s where I keep my treasure.
🙂
Rob's Surf Report 
That’s true – there is no place like home, I just wish mine was a little happier sometimes.
It is strange how we become accustomed to our surroundings. Just today on the way home the Fathership told me he could not imagine living beside the sea, it’s something I have never thought of before, but I did for the whole journey home.
I took a Left and ended up here, so hello! I love your haiku, and really love your family/home values. Anyway, sort of tangentially re “surfing”, I just watched the movie “Love and Mercy”, about Brian Wilson/Beach Boys–have you seen it? I really only watched it for John Cusack…
Hello, and thanks for stopping by! I have not seen “Love and Mercy”, but I’ll definitely add it to my watchlist. I’ve never really gotten the full story behind the Beach Boys’ career and their split with Wilson later on, and that sounds like it’s right up my alley. 🙂
Well, I’ll warn you that the movie is LONG and Depressing…but if you can keep from killing yourself, the ending to Brian’s story is a rather miraculous victory. Talk about the hand of God resting on you…oh yeah.