The morning fog lay sleeping upon the dewy meadow as the chert crunches beneath my feet.  The stillness of the damp air exaggerates the lonesome screech of some solitary owl crying somewhere in the distance.  I pause to listen, and then continue onward toward my somber destination; a silent city shrouded in mist, memories and faded flowers.

     My mind races back to another time.  It was a time before wrinkles and gray hair, when once again I traveled this gravel road and watched broken hearted people stare into a gaping hole as empty as their own hearts.  The remembrance carries me back to the day I said good bye to my own father when I was 12 years old.  A loss that set fire to my innocence and launched a constant pursuit for something to fill the emptiness I felt in my heart. 

     Looking back, it is mind-boggling the roads we will travel in an attempt to find fulfillment.  We journey to our far countries… squander our lives and still we are amazed at our lack of contentment.  Sadly, often it takes the muck and the mire of the pig pen to get us to appreciate the countless treasures we discarded when we turned our back on home.

     Our happiness is not determined by what life brings to us as by the attitude we bring to life.  Our possessions are poor indicators of future fulfillment, because things can never truly satisfy the kind of hunger we each feel.  We need love, acceptance, understanding, forgiveness, and appreciation; all of which we can find at a place I like to call . . . HOME.  Today, let us remember that the most important things in our homes are people.  Remember, happiness is a choice, choose to begin today to enjoy what you have at home.

Something to think about:

• A happy home is more than a roof over your head—it’s a foundation under your feet.

• Home, a place that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

• Home is not where you live but where they understand you.

• Some young men who leave home to set the world on fire have to come home for matches.

• Home should be a retreat to which a son or daughter can return in triumph or defeat, in victory or disgrace, and know they will be loved.

• When you’re safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.

Thankful for the place I call home
Rickey Moore