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s.TheDiscipeMD

A few months ago, my wife was visiting a patient in a local nursing home when she heard the sobbing coming from another room of one of the other residents. Over and over, her cries of “I want to go home” echoed throughout the facility. Apparently it is a common plea of this women who has just been admitted to her new home.  My wife doesn’t know the circumstance of why this lady was admitted, nor do I. But for us both,  a certain sadness set in our souls, knowing that she was not alone in lamenting her fate. Indeed for many, both young and old, the echo’s of their cries of wanting to go home, reverberate throughout hallways across the country.  Indeed, the day may come when my voice too might join the chorus of lamentation.

Many years ago, there was a radio show called “Kids Say the Darndest Things!” hosted by the late Art Linkletter. Later it became a television show of the same name. One episode from the late fifties held this conversation:

Linkletter: “Where do you live?” Young boy: “We just moved here and we live in a motel.” Linkletter: “Then you don’t have a home.” Young boy: “Oh, Mr. Linkletter, we have a home; we just don’t have a house to put it in.”

Kids do say some of the darndest and most insightful things! You see, when Dorothy wanted to go to Kansas, it wasn’t because Kansas was such a great place. It was because her loved ones were there! Because a home is not just a house or location. It is where we feel loved and cared for—a place of refuge and serenity. This could be under a bridge if our loved ones are there. Home is a place we all want to be.

One of the hardest things about losing your parents is the loss of your original home. It is a house where the doors are always open for you to come and talk, and rest from the dreary world. At least that it what it is for most and should be for all.

One home that stands secure in my mind is a heavenly home that awaits me when I pass to the other side. I feel, deep in my heart, that it exists and that I will remember it when I see it. I don’t know what it looks like and I really don’t care. It’s Kansas, its Baltimore, its Silver Spring Maryland. It’s the feeling, it’s the place where I will find my loved ones. It is home!