HOME: WHERE WE BELONG….

Isn’t it very strange how far life taken us sometimes away from the home we were born and grown and know as home most of our lives..

And then we found a place called home.. and we feel so belong and very comfortable.. that we doesn’t even miss our parents home anymore..

I’m a Jamaican.. and I love Jamaica.. and I get so home sick sometimes..

I got the chance to come to the USA 23 years ago.. I landed in Florida in a city called Hollywood… I spent the first year in that city..

I had a aunt in ORLANDO and she had invited me to come for a visit..and I accepted..

I was so intrigued With Orlando and feel in love in the city.. I promise myself I would come back and make it my home…

It was so beautiful and clean…

I liked HOLLYWOOD.. and would have stayed because I found the love of my life whom I was very much in love with… and I enrolled in school to pursued my advanced accounting career…

I was living in another aunts home (they were my father sisters)…and just after Christmas she told me she sold it and I had to find somewhere else to live..

My aunt in Orlando has suggested that I come stay with her and I had refused due to school and my lover… but fate has stepped in for me to fulfill my promise to make Orlando my home…

with no where to go I decided to take up my aunts in Orlando offer..

I had to arranged a location transfer from my job..make arrangements to to Orlando.. I was crushed to leave my love behind.. and was very disappointed to quit school…

But….

I was very excited to live in the city I fell in love with…

I had two boys.. age 10. And 2.. that I left behind in Jamaica… I took the baby with me when I came here…but had to take him back home when I couldn’t afford to Keep him.. and work At the same time…

I intended to find a school in Orlando to continued my accounting career… as soon as I got settled…

…..but I went back home to see my babies that May..and I didn’t like what I saw. Especially my baby…

My beautiful healthy baby was now puny.. and obviously wasn’t taken care of properly..

I was so tempted to stay home with him.. but knew I couldn’t take care of him in Jamaica…

So I came back to Orlando.. in tears..and anguish and was determined to find me a home so I could get him with me…

I started a second job… to try earned enough money to make it happen..

My aunt was a real estate agent..and I complained and confided in her about wanting my baby with me..

She promised to help me buy a home.. and a year later she lives up to her promise and got me approved for my home..

I was so elated.. I close this house in September 1998.. get it all ready and went for my baby..

He was going on four.. and when I brought him to this house.. he acted like he was home…

my oldest son join me six years later…

It so happens I lived next to a elementary school.. and it also happens that one of my neighbors was his aunt from his father’s relatives..

She has two children his age group.. and we became very close and became friends..

I happen to choose the right time to move into that neighborhood.. most of my neighbors had young children.. and they all became friends with my baby boy.. and they all helped me to baby sit him in time of need..

I still worked two jobs..and with my baby as well .. I couldn’t fit school in my schedule….

I worked from 11pm at night.. to 2pm the next day…five days a week.. and I took my baby up at 2:30 pm…

spent the evening cooking.. cleaning.. and make sure he’s all set for the night…

and then sleep for about 4 hrs… and do it all over again…

I actually had this routine for next fifteen years…

so I sometimes needed to have someone to baby sit him for me.. and all my neighbors chipped in..

So he grows up here.. and after 20 years..we became attached to the neighborhood.. we made many memories here.. and so it’s home..

Jamaica is no longer home to me.. yesss.. I still love Jamaica with all the fund memories of growing up.. and the bad too..

I will always go back to visit but Orlando is where I called home now….

I look back and sometimes marvel as to where life has taken me.. and I’m really grateful for the opportunity I got to find a home in Orlando…

My baby boy is now grown and moved away to a different state.. and I missed him so much and hoped he would return.. the house is so empty without him and his brother..

But…

I understand life does take us in different directions and places..and I have accepted that his home may no longer be my home…

My oldest is also married and still lives in Florida.. but in a different city.. a hour away from me..

Home…. we never knew where we may end up.. how far away we may go or where life may take us.. but we all find that place we call home….

So you teach your kids to spread their wings.. explore other places.. until they find that one place that makes them feel like they are home….

HOME: THE PLACE WHERE WE BELONG….