Home Is Where Your Parents Are!

Home is where the heart is, goes the saying. In that case, I am blessed with two - the one I grew up, full of life, with my parents, brother and grandmom and the one I stay with my man and little one, which is our little world. Even so, I am partial... partial towards the place I grew up from a little girl to a married lady. Ask me where my home is and I will still tell you the place where my parents are.

Whereas in the place I've set up as home, I make sure the place is kept neat and tidy at all times, I wake up early to ensure that the house looks like a home, food is ready for the two boys when they wake up, my eyes go to each and every nook and corner of the house to ensure that nothing is piled up here and there. But all this changes the moment I reach my parents' place. There is a familiar tuck in the heart, the brain sends out happy waves and I act like a goofy teenager!

The moment I step into this place, I, all of a sudden, transform to the little girl that I was - messy, irresponsible, lazy. I am sure the boy thinks his mother has a multiple personality disorder given the difference in behaviour at both places! Days, here, are spent waking up later than usual and if at all I wake up early, it is to spend time with my mom and watch her carry on with her chores. I don't move a finger here because, of course, I am home for a break and I am supposed to chill! The bedroom is messy all the time, clothes thrown here and there and I just laze around. I don't worry about my baby because there are people who are eager to look after him. They don't care if I am nowhere to be seen and I needn't worry because they will look after the baby just like how they looked after me or even better. I don't care how the house looks, I don't worry about what is for lunch or dinner and I walk out of the house without thinking twice to meet my friends and come back home late without feeling guilty. Because, here, there is no one to judge me and I don't need to be the homemaker. Of course, there is constant bickering and bantering, Amma complaining about how I don't know to keep stuffs in an orderly manner, Achan stating how when I come home, the house all of a sudden transforms into a jungle with stuffs thrown here and there and the brother having no room to sleep. But, you know as a matter of fact that amidst all this, there is undeniable love that can't be quantified and affection accumulated since the time you were born! And nothing can change this.. ever.. never.

Here, I am seen as a daughter first and an adult, married, mother to a kid later. This is the only place I get to throw tantrums, show attitude and act as if I am possessed and still get away with it. Because this place houses a bunch of people who tolerates the worst in me and still loves me, no matter what. This is where life is carefree to me and I am not expected to be at my best.  

When you are a girl, you grow up, get married, leave the place you spent your growing years at and start a new life in a totally different place. And that is when you realise the worth of the place you grew up in - the place where your parents are, the place where you go back to be a kid all over again. The place, which you took for granted once upon a time, becomes your most cherished place once you make a nest of your own and then, you yearn to be back home to be a little girl again, to spend time with your parents and be a messy teenager all over again. Then you realise, home is heaven!