Searching For Home

 By Maryanna Gabriel

PRAYERS
FOR THOSE LOSING THEIR HOMES IN THE WILDFIRES 

"And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

 - Shakespeare, As You Like It

"Home"
watercolour
by Maryanna Gabriel

I suppose the question of home is a pervasive one with climate change, and the world either flooding, or burning, and where people are fleeing for their lives. Not good. 

After a great deal of thought and for numerous reason, I have sold my townhome. This has certainly stirred things up. With my family scattered, and my mother gone, I find myself asking what is home and what does the idea constitute, and how does that fit into who I am now? I sleep, and dream I am returning to my roots and memories held there, then I wake up and realize there is nowhere to return to. 

So, I have been travelling many miles, in and between the fires, looking through many cities. My poor protesting back. The upshot? You can take the woman out of the coast, but you can't take the coast out of the woman. Something about water and needing to be around it seems to have won out, despite the breath-taking beauty of inland mountainous regions and plains of this gloriously beautiful country.

Soon I will have to pack. But for now, I am just going to enjoy the calm asylum I have created as I slowly narrow the geographies.