Home is where the H is.

This weekend I had a conversation with a friend about why Regina is Home… with a capital H. I have been thinking a lot about it since.

All are welcome for dinner!

At the time I suggested that it may be because I moved here after a big break-up. It might be that compared to Saskatoon, my 1st Saskatchewan stop, In Regina I feel like I am building a life, living in the whole city, not just campus.

My friend asked if it was simply cost of living, and in someways I know it is. It means that as a single income household I have the disposable income to not be house poor, that I can see an end to my mortgages. Though I don’t know what I will do when the house and land are paid for, it seems that the freedom that may bring is very heartening. I think about taking my kids (imaginary at present) out of school and traveling for a year here and there, I think of possible shifts in career to less-lucrative fields without fear of foreclosure. I think of working part time.

As my friend suggested, perhaps part of the home feeling is the independence that I have here. I make my decisions. I am accountable to myself. and that is pretty much it. I am building new networks of friends that are outside work and school, that are “mine”, not borrowed from a boyfriend, no just joining an existing group. In network terms i am becoming a bridging component between currently unconnected networks.

I think part of my love of this city is the love of my home. I feel like it says more about me than I ever could (and for those of you that know me, I can say A LOT). I like that people feel welcome when they step in the door. I feel like the place has good Karma, or JuJu or gestalt, or what ever you would call it. I feel Home when I am Home.

The Living Room, I like living there.

My friend also asked what it would take for me to leave this place, and at the time all I could really think of was a good working opportunity, but I have given this more thought. I tried to picture myself leaving this place with a good feeling in my guts. And I think the thing that keeps me here will likely be the true cause for me to leave.

I think I will leave this place following my Heart: whether this is my Heart in the form of a person; or my Heart as a driving whim; or my Heart as a drive to do different things in a different setting.


I have loved a few cities. Halifax was one: I loved it as a kid before I ever set foot there. And even when I left, I kept calling it home for nearly 4 years, probably because I left a piece of my Heart there. But now I have that piece back, and though I still love that city, it is not Home any more.

I guess I don’t have my heart nailed to anything that specific here, I guess my Heart feels good just being here and being open to what ever is next. And just feeling open feels pretty damn great.

I have always been of the idea that you need to be happy where ever you are, and much of that is a decision, perhaps a faith that you are where you should be, where ever that is.

Heart with a Capital H.
Home with a Capital H.

In the end I guess if my Heart leaves, I will have to go where ever it has found its new Home.