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You know it has to be pretty unique for individuals to have two separate places to call home. The idea of home varies from one person’s perspective to another. Although the word is a word, the idea of home is an opinion. I just spent a full year in San Diego, California and then finally came back to Michigan. It is an interesting and surreal feeling when you realize just what kind of things you left behind. There are so many ties to people I knew who probably don’t even know I am back. There are people who I had rivalries with. People who looked up to me.

When you move, the basic thought is that it all disappears but it really kind of fades. It is still there, but hidden under a sheet of all the other things in life. At the time I am writing this, I am about to see a couple of old friends from a year ago. And, it is really difficult to comprehend just what’s changed here as well. I realize that at some level, humans are self centered and believe that the world revolves around themselves. I am finally realizing that this is a perspective of ignorance. Because when I return, everything changes and the world moves on without you. This also branches to the thought of when you die. Sure you leave that impact and those who know you are changed in a certain way by it. But let’s face it, the other seven billion people don’t know about it. I am betting a good amount of them just don’t care.

We humans struggle so much to keep our individuality from the masses. And want to believe that we are not just some face in a crowd, but a whole person with a lot of life and needs and all other possible selves and experiences. But in this attempt of self and individuality, it can take a while to realize that every other person wants the same thing and be their own person. Imagine how boring the world would be, if it were just the clone of the same person. A woman and a man and they reproduce the same babies that are all the same. This system would be efficient but it is obvious that most of us wouldn’t really want that. It is deeply psychological. Especially with the two golden rules of the world. Reproduce and survive. Once you get these two down, there are no other real points in the life of a human being. As you succeeded in making the human race a bit more powerful, a bit more stable and in the end, a bit more human. The need for individuality can derive also from one’s need to survive as a person.

Thoughts like we are all  clones enter our minds, we are probably more likely to reject that thought. Because, honestly, we strive for more. This all can go back to the idea of home. With individuality, that thing makes you unique, you decide not to just should you be unique, but all the things in your life. The clothing that you wear should be unique. The food that you eat must have different taste. Once you set that uniqueness, it eventually becomes familiar. The food that you eat, people you talk to, the clothes you wear. That could be a big part in the creation of home.

When I was younger, every place I went to, as long as it was different from my thought of home, it would have a different smell to it. In my own home, I have gotten so used to the smell, that I don’t even notice it. I don’t notice anything different. But when I am in another person’s home or even just outside, I can smell the difference. I can feel the humidity or difference in temperature of the air. When I go to India every year, I always knew that it had a very distinct smell which I always looked forward to, the smell of familiarity like home. When I enter another person’s home, I can smell the difference in dust, the smell of fur on the floor if they have pets and all other components to create a distinct smell. It goes for my home too. I honestly how it smells to other people. Since I am so used to it, I can’t tell.  Home is one of those places that I always feel safe. Home is a place of safety and privacy for me. When I wanted to be quiet, it will be quiet. When I want it to be loud, I can make it loud. All of these distinctions are really just me truly getting used to this place, a home. A place where I feel safe, a place where I thrive, and finally a place where I survive.