the love tree

When I am in another country a piece of my heart remains in Italy. Another part is in New Zealand, and family in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and America unwittingly pull me in diverse ways. Does that mean that I am broken-hearted? I can only be with one at a time. Or am I very lucky, to be able to love so many, to be linked in this special way with people in diverse cultures?

I remember reading - and have often quoted - that there is no need for a child to be jealous when a new child is born because each little baby brings its own love with it. The parents don't love the other less, but simply grow more and more love. When I leave those I love, I don't love them less. Sometimes the distances make the love, the joys and the sorrows, even more acute.

Where is home? It is where the heart is, that is true. I may prefer one culture over another, but when I am with those I love that place also becomes a home, however temporary.

I have always enjoyed the theme song from "Cheers" - it has the title line "where everybody knows your name". An email reminds me that in my new home everybody knows my name, and in my little village all know why I have left them for these wide skies right now. But here, after only a few visits, I am also warmed when people remember me and I don't need to say who I am when I answer the phone.

We all need to connect, and maybe that is why I prefer to be in small towns and villages rather than in cities. It is too easy to become an island in the city. The price of connection may be a loss of privacy, but that is a price I am willing to pay.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name:
Read the lyrics here.
Listen to the song on YouTube .

Today I am grateful for friends and neighbours, old and new.