Reflections on Home
“Every step of the way is the home you always yearned to reach.”
Intro: It Has Been a Minute!
In late 2019, I realized/decided that a life chapter was sunsetting. I planned to close out Botswana-based consulting contracts by mid-2020, and move from my home-for-11-years back to my “home village” of Boston, where I would try out teaching at my alma mater (Let’s Go Eagles!), seek consulting/advising gigs with inspirational people/projects, and begin exploring settings for my next life chapter in the USA Southwest - the region of my home country with a similar climate to Southern Africa.
Like many folks on our planet, the pandemic postponed/warped/combusted my plans in ways that I am still processing.
Since my mid-pandemic RLQ @ 33.3 Life Update, I have been on the move and adapting my transition plans/travels/contracts/visas month-to-month… while dragging around colonies of antibiotic-resistant parasites in my intestines and on my skin (a story I will share in an upcoming blog post titled “Reflections on Decolonization”).
Needless to say, I have been processing a lot- in all of the ways. And the following reflections on “home” is a meaningful milestone of my process. If you are reading this, thank you for your participation in, and support of, my unfolding story… I appreciate you deeply.
Migration: A Fundamental Feature of Life
All forms of life migrate. While species establish habitats in specific ecosystems, seasonal and generational migrations are constantly unfolding, and patterns emerge and fade with climatic cycles. Migration is driven by the fluctuating abundance of sustenance, as well as social rituals passed down from previous generations. Even seemingly stationary species with roots are conversing in community, and slowly migrating with the soils and sunshine that best suit them, driven by seed/pollen dispersal from birds, squirrels, insects, winds, etc.
For over 11 years - my entire adult life after graduating from Boston College - I annually migrated between my cultural roots in Boston, and Cape Cod, USA and my home in Gaborone, Botswana (AKA: “The Dog Box”)... And now I have migrated to Northern New Mexico, USA.
Below are links to alliterative lists and short stories of the sustenance and social rituals that have inspired my migratory patterns… Because, you know, alliterations are always amusing.
Bostonian B’s (My Roots): Bagels, Burritos, Beers, Bandwith, & Buddies
Conclusion: Home is Om
Many say “Home is Where the Heart Is”. My mother says “Home is Where Mom Is”. Both are true, and also for me, reflecting on this (unexpectedly 3-year-long) nomadic life chapter transition… and being an annoyingly awesome alliteration aficionado: “Home is Where the Hennessy Hammock Hangs”
Awkward alliteration aside, a lifelong takeaway for me from this life transition is that it’s likely not a coincidence that the Sanskrit symbol “om” (i.e. nonduality) sounds a whole lot like “home”. The embodied experience of one is awesomely and wonderfully familiar to the other. And it’s a feeling that is available at all times, wherever we may be, and regardless of our circumstance… for some of us, a regular mindfulness “practice” can be a helpful reminder of this truth.
