Make your space
Setheesh Moturi
THE WRITE WAY
Home. Two weeks left, and it feels so close. In two weeks I will be home, in my own bed, in my hometown of nearly 21 years.
When I was in academy, similar feelings would arise as home leave would approach. As the years passed, however, I noticed my bed at home didn’t fit me as comfortably as it used to. Home leaves and breaks turned into late nights and early mornings trying to stay connected with my friends. I began to ache for my dorm room and the fresh smell of the mountains among which my academy was nestled.
Now, don’t get me wrong, by the time I was a senior I was (basically) ready to get out. But, reflecting on these feelings makes me wonder how long it will be until I ache for Nebraska. Even still, I have a hard time imagining acclimating to this flat place with its odd climate and funny-tasting water. And yet, in a way, I already miss it.
I think about the view I have from my seventh-floor dorm room; I think about the people I’ve met, the memories I’ve made and the memories I have yet to create.
As I think about this, I wonder what it takes to make some place “home.”
For some, home is summer, and for some it’s the laughter shared with friends, while for others it’s a place. The adage “home is where the heart is” fits in here somewhere, I’m sure. But regardless of how you say it, I think home can be identified as anywhere we put our time and space.
Time passes naturally in this equation, but it can be hard to find our “space” in new places. Finding my space in Nebraska has definitely been difficult. Any of my friends can tell you, much to my chagrin, that I talk about Oregon and the northwest as if it were heaven on Earth (because if they aren’t, they’re honestly the next best thing).
As I work to make my space in Nebraska, I’ve found the importance of finding a space within oneself. We can’t always carry our friends and family with us everywhere we go. That is to say, even if I were to make my space in Nebraska, I couldn’t take everything that makes it so with me anymore than I can move my house in Oregon here.
The importance of being able to make space within oneself is knowing where you find belonging is nowhere other than where you are.
This idea may sound a little too “mystical” for some, but so is the idea of “home.” It’s indescribable. It’s belonging, being and loving. The idea is to be able to make and take that with you anywhere.
So, to the student missionaries, graduates, freshmen and people who are just trying to make it through their sentence in Nebraska, I say this: find your space. Make your home a portable one that adds meaning to any location.
Setheesh is a sophomore mathematics and religious education major.