where do you hang your boots?
by Martin Heidinger
HOME
I lived in Smithers for one-and-a-half years out
of twenty. Five years ago I came as an exchange student to the local high school. I studied, played, and lived here for a year. Recently, I arrived in January to work as a ski coach and ski instructor. I deferred from medical university to live one season in the life of a modern day ski-bum in a place I call skier’s paradise. Originating from Austria, I would call Canada, in particular the Bulkley Valley, my second home. But what is home? The feeling of homeliness? Asked the question, “Where are you from?” my answers are variable. To some, I say “Graz, Austria.” To others, I say “Smithers.” Where is my home? The word home is divided in its use. On the one hand, it’s an external term, a geographic and official one. I am a Temporary Resident of Canada, which makes this country my periodical home country and Smithers my official home. On the other hand, home describes an internal, psychological, and authentic feeling that is an individual decision based on subjective parameters. “Home is where your heart is,” implies the individuality of home. Home for me is a place of warmth, of loving and being loved, a place of emotions and support. Or, speaking more generally, a place that feels right, somewhere that feels like home. Herman Hesse, German Nobel laureate for literature, wrote the poem Steps. We’ll walk from space to space in glad progression ? and should not cling to one as homestead for us. ? The cosmic spirit will not bind nor bore us; ?
it lifts and widens us in every session: ? for hardly set in one of life’s expanses ? we make it home, and apathy commences. ? But only he, who travels and takes chances, ? can break the habits’ paralyzing stances. It might be, even, that the last of hours ? will make us once again a youthful lover: ? The call of life to us forever flowers... ? Anon, my heart: Say farewell and recover! Like everything in life, feelings are subject to change. Constellations and relations are the essence of emotions and that clinging to feelings is like trying to keep constellations and relations the same way forever. Travelling is something that is successful when the traveller is open and flexible. Successful travelling is always connected to change and reflection. Travelling also includes mental wandering, which makes every thought a subject of reflection. If this process is used to look at habits in a different way and eventually optimize those characteristics in a way that helps not only oneself but also a broader variety of people, then one has made this journey successful. “But only he, who travels and takes chances/can break the habits’ paralyzing stances.” To call a place home is a big step, because it’s confirming a place as one’s base, as a place of security, a place where batteries get recharged. Personally, I can say that the Bulkley Valley has become a place to recharge my batteries, a second home. But I also have to say farewell and recover, recover from so many rich experiences that draw me back to this place. I will be home again. [sic]
Show Me The Way To Go Home Sometimes home is simply a familiar tune. Home by the rules like nothing will last...thankfully a few Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes is a catchy make sure that you get home.” And Yo La Tengo’s song that connects a lover to the concept. “Home is lush I Feel Like Going Home is a beautiful take on being wherever I’m with you.” LCD Soundsystem has an tired and ready for the comfort of home. “I can float eight-minute tune by the same name that captures above the ceiling, I like drifting through the air, I another 7V7N( F&V??rF?V?6&R?b?( ?f?&vWB??W"FV?BF???6R?6??6V?G&F????'WB&?v?B??rF?R7B?F??2?2??W"?7B6??6R??r??BvR6?'&V?6??VG2F??( ?BV?F??R??fVV???Rv???r???R?( ?#??