Monday, August 2, 2010

"Home" categorically

Do you think it strange to feel at home while traveling? I mean of course the third category of the sensation--the first being when you are physically home in the house or area in which you grew up, and the second being with the people that necessarily make home, home.

Today I was contemplating home, running amidst a moderate-to-heavy rain--and not an annoying, windy rain but the kind that falls satisfyingly strait down--along a trail in a forested area when I came to a clearing. I was surprised to find my trail sandwiched between a corn field and railroad tracks and the smell of the rain-soaked corn in the breeze reminded me of home-home--of the first category.

But I realized today that I feel a certain sense of home when I travel. I'm not sure what it is, exactly. Something about exploration, the challenge, new things, new understandings... i don't know. I think you're beginning to see the third category of the sensation of home is a bit more nebulous than the first two. I felt another sensation of the third category today as well while I was running--albeit a bit further than I probably should have in my jet-lagged state. I occasionally feel this third category when I run and today I felt it so that I ran nearly the entire 4.5-5 miles with a smile on my face, despite the fact that I haven't ran that far (a distance I once considered average) in several months.

I'm sure you've felt it or something similar. It maybe wasn't while you were traveling or running in the rain. But it was while you were doing something and you had this sudden sense of intention, of being where you are for a reason and that you were meant for it. I don't know, but my hunch is this "third category" is the sense of an entirely other home yet to be experienced. I think it's a small sense of Heaven. God only knows.