Home is where the heart is

Today I want to talk about blessings. In my life I have been fortunate enough to have had not one, but two incredible fathers. My father Ken, and my stepfather Mike. My mom and Mike met when I was 12 years old, not long after we moved to New York. Mom and Mike were a wonderful couple, and when they finally married, many years later, I was so incredibly happy. Mike would always, (and still does) Introduce me as his daughter. I have always been deeply touched by that. And as the years passed, I began calling him Dad. I love him dearly, and when we go back to visit him in Long Island or Sanibel Florida, my children only know him as "Grampy." The house that my Mom and Mike shared in Long Island has always felt like home to me. And when we visit now, I must say that it is bittersweet. It feels so different without my mom, and yet it still feels like home to me. I know that this house is not where my stepfather wants to ultimately be and so I am faced with the specter that this will no longer be a place for me to come and share with my family.

The things I love about this house are exactly what my mother loved. It is is an old home, situated within walking distance to a beautiful inter-coastal waterway, surrounded by audoban protected marshes, across the street from a perfect field for soccer, fireflies, fairy tea parties and 5 minutes from the most beautiful beach on Long Island. But there is one new addition that was not there when my mother was alive, a new gate. A gate that my mother's dear friend Hanne had put up as a memorial to my mom. A beautiful, simple, circle gate placed directly across from our house at the entrance to the field. There are many things that circles can mean to people but I believe that this one is perfectly symbolic of the circle of life. I actually believe that if we no longer have this home to return to, it will probably be this gate that I will miss the most, this sweet, thoughtful tribute to my mom. My mother did not wish to be buried, she actually wanted her ashes spread over the sea in California. She did not like cemeteries, so this gate, this is her tribute, this is where I will visit.