Sweet Home Alabama

I am writing this with a sense of puzzlement. My problem being that I have the title 'Sweet Home Alabama' and my home is deinitely not Alabama. Although a very enjoyable song it does not make a very adaptable title.

I suppose what I will have to concentrate on is not Alabama but the sense of home and what 'home' actually means. It is a word of many meanings- glances into the pages of a dictionary I find over 10 definitions, not including the sense of metaphorical home that in many ways is stronger than any actual residence.

When I was a child and upset I used to use the phrase 'I want to go home' even if i was in my house. Maybe it was because I had seen too many films and always had a sense of the dramatic. Or maybe it is because, when everything goes wrong, you want to run away to a safe place- you want to feel good again. Home is more than a place- it is safe and comfortable and in some ways magical. It is the place where it is all supposed to be ok. Even now, when things go wrong I still can't help but think 'I want to go home'. Part of me still thinks I can shut the door of my room and nothing can touch me. If only. It's a nice thought, though.

Indeed, in my darkest days I returned home and gradually felt life being restored to me. I don't think I could have coped if I had not returned. I needed to go back to the place where I belonged, the one place I could re-grasp a sense of self and be revived.

Even when away for only a short while for a holiday I would get home-sick and long for the dear little bungalow where I have lived for my entire existance. I remember jotting down these lines on a napkin:

'England, my England
Where are you now
I'd go home if I could
But I don't know how'

I know not everyone is as attached to their home as I am- not everyone is as lucky as me in that respect but I at least hope that everyone can find somewhere that makes them feel the same way.