Home

About 15 years ago I moved back home to Amsterdam, NY.  People say you can't go home again but I disagree with that.  You can go home.  When my husband and I got married we lived in his childhood home for the first year.  Then an opportunity came for him to take a job in Rhode Island.  We jumped at the opportunity, thinking of the adventure and creating a new life.  Thinking "the grass was greener on the other side."  About a year and a half later we had our first child.  Having a child made me miss my parents and family.  I didn't want our son to only have weekend grandparents.  I wanted him to know them like I knew mine.  Well soon my husband had another job opportunity to move us to Massachusetts.  Another chance for a new adventure, we were young so we jumped at the chance.  Soon we had another child and were starting to out grow our 2 bedroom apartment.  We started looking for a house to buy, but always compared the neighborhoods to the one we both grew up in back in Amsterdam.  At that same time my grandmother wasn't doing well and was being moved into a nursing home.  Her house that my grandfather built was going to be put on the market to be sold.  When I found this out I made the suggestion to my husband that we move back home and buy Granny's house.  To my amazement he said yes.  He didn't even stop to think about it.  So we came home, ready for a new adventure once again.  It's been about 15 years and I wouldn't change a thing.  Amsterdam might not be a booming metropolis, with sparkling new buildings.  Amsterdam is home.  Just like the saying, "home is where your heart is."  My heart is in Amsterdam, NY and so are my feet.  Home is where family and friends are.  It's where you plant your roots.  I always say I am giving my children "Roots and Wings."  Roots to grow from and wings to fly.   I can only hope that my children will fly off on adventures someday and maybe live in a town far away.  But know that our door is always open and they can come home.

(We are teaching our children that they need to be able to take care of themselves someday.  That you don't have to go to college but you have to be able to support yourself with steady income and health insurance, which are not easy to get if you don't have a college degree and a good job.  It is not our job to support them forever but to help them while they grow.  So although the door is always open, it's for temporary stay once they graduate.  If they decide to live in other states that will be great it will give us places to travel to.  If they stay in Amsterdam, that will be great too.)