#peace

There’s No Peace Like Home

Retirement Reflections

After being away for 90 days since May 21 (some of this planned, some quite unplanned), words fail me in trying to express my gratitude in returning home. I will borrow this quote from the wise and articulate Maya Angelou.

The ache for home is in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not to be questioned.”

What better place to relax in peace and comfort?

Here are some of the most recent photos on my camera roll, which help explain the feeling further.

The Grand Canyon was truly stunning…
As were so many other spectacular places on this journey.

Including our Whistler scenery being photobombed by Marmots!
But no view can match that soul-satisfying first glimpse of home.

Updates on the Traveling Books of Inner Peace.

Eight months ago, I sent three copies of The Little Book of Inner Peace to friends in three different countries with the request for them to pass the book on when finished. Here are the current updates of their travels.

Book A is off to visit Laurie Blue in Tahiti. This is its sixth stop since leaving Parksville, BC, this past February.
Book B (featured in this photo) is currently hanging out with Kaleigh and her son in Toronto, Ontario. This is its 7th stop in its journey.
Book C is enjoying its travels in India. This is the sixth stop of this very adventurous book!

How was your September? How did your intentions align with the realities of the month? Please join Sue, Debbie, me and Jo (this time, Jo is the one who is currently travelling) to share what’s been happening for you. We’d love to hear from you.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Just in case none of this post adequately conveyed my feelings of the true peace of home, I will leave you with this classic from Simon and Garfunkel. What is your favourite song about home? If you have one, please drop the link in the comments.

Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

108 thoughts on “There’s No Peace Like Home”

  2. A lovely feeling to get home after so long away Donna and that song is perfect! You’ve certainly been around some planned, some unplanned as you say but you always seem to embrace wherever you are. Hope you can enjoy some peaceful time at home! Take care xx

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    1. Thanks so much, Debbie. The peace that I currently feel in being home is so strong I swear that I can touch and taste it. That being said, I am still in brain fog. I had messed up the time of exercise class, and I believe I also messed up the time of publishing this post. Hopefully, my brain fog will heal soon! 😀

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  6. Hi Donna! Yes coming home after such a long time gone does feel great doesn’t it? So wonderful to have a home base to return to. That’s something Thom and I learned this last year as well. While we LOVE to travel and hope to do many more trips, just having a “home” is really important to us. We also learned that we really don’t want to be “nomads” where we go from place to place to place with no home base. I think it’s important to find our own style and then make the most of it, don’t you? Enjoy your space until the next time! ~Kathy

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    1. Hi, Kathy – Your comment is very wise. Finding our own style and then making the ost of it makes great sense. Also, recognizing that our personal style can change over time. I previously was quite comfortable with longer trips away from home. I’m not sure when this changed.

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    1. Hi, Lenore – I felt that exact same way during most of COVID isolation. But then when I finally did get back out there (three years later, with some illness for both my husband and me which led to unplanned extended travel) I was incredibly grateful to finally return home. Although I know that I will yearn to travel again in the future…for now I am very content to stay right where I am!

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  8. Hi Donna – I TOTALLY get the appeal of being in your own home again. It’s such a sanctuary isn’t it? I used to sing “Hey It’s Good To Be Back Home Again” by John Denver when we were heading back home after being away. Welcome back to your haven. x

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  11. Thank you for my home in the hills, the home in my heart & the people who lead me there. This is a prayer on repeat in my soul.
    Welcome home. May it rise up to greet you.

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  12. Donna,
    I read your post and had the image of Dorothy in “Wizard of Oz” clicking her Ruby Slippers and repeating “there’s no place like home” running through my head. Although we spend a lot of time traveling in our RV, we love having a home to rest and recoup. Tom Jones “Green, Green Grass of Home” is a fav. Time to put your feet up…Joe

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    1. Thanks, Laurie – Several of the days when we were away I slept on my yoga mat (attempting, ineffectively, to isolate from Richard who contracted COVID while we were away). So our own bed feels extra heavenly!!
      I love your Holy Cats expression and wholeheartedly agree– those books have travelled much more widely than I ever imagined that they would!

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    1. Hi again, Bernie – I agree that there is a magic time line of “just right” and “gone too long” that varies from person to person, and trip to trip. Our trip was also extended at the beginning due to a funeral and at the end due to COVID. So lots of highs and lows on this journey. 😦

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    2. Hi, Bernie – I’m not sure which song you mean. In the body of the post I featured ‘Homeward Bound’ by Simon and Garfunkle. In the comments, readers also recommended: “You are my Home” (Billy Joel), “Hey It’s Good To Be Back Home Again” (John Denver), “Goin’ Home” (The Rolling Stones) and “The Green, Green Grass of Home” (Tom Jones).

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    1. I agree there’s no place like home. I remember once kissing the tarmac when I stepped off an airplane –
      Welcome back then. Enjoy all your home comforts! Those feelings of gratitude are great.

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  19. I am so glad you’re back home. That quote really resonates with me. I haven’t been traveling, but I’ll be moving to a new care home next week (my choice) and, while at first it will most likely not feel like “home” at all, I hope it will eventually.

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  20. Is it an age/.stage thing…this “home” and returning to it, I wonder. I can so understand your words and feelings Donna. We have recently decided to “go back home to Sydney” …the capital city we left for the coast back in early 2015. I am literally now “hanging out” for the reconnections where I know family and friends are, as well as much more that is familiar. It helps for me to share on the blog too, as I see you do, and with many nods of agreement too. Thank you for the link up. Denyse.

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  21. There certainly is no place like home, Donna although for me I have a new home which we are settling into. I also think that home is where your loved ones are whether physically or in your heart. I’m so pleased you and Richard are feeling better and you’ve certainly had a crazy roller coaster ride over the last 90 days. Here’s to peace and quiet for a time in your beautiful home. Take care my friend. xx

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  22. Hi Donna – so pleased you’re both home … it sounds a challenging trip, as well as the happy times – as Sue describes at times ‘a roller coaster ride’. Being back in one’s own space makes such a difference so often in life … long trips away, each night from a nursing centre for me … peace is here. Welcome back – good to see you … that brain fog will go (at some stage!) – cheers Hilary

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    1. Hi, Hilary – Thank you for your wise words. I wholeheartedly agree that peace is home. The brain fog and the physical exhaustion are lifting slowly…but not as quickly as my impatient being would like. Hope all is well for your friend/loved one in the nursing centre.

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      1. Sorry – that was my experience ten + years ago … when my mother and my father’s brother-in-law were still alive and I spent time with them to ensure their ends were as best as could be … a positive period for all its emotional exhaustion … that fog probably has almost cleared by now. I hope things continue to ease for you … take care and all the best back in VI – cheers Hilary

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  24. Hi Donna, Glad to hear you’re home safely. It’s nice to be home after a trip. I just got back from Halifax, feeling very lucky to be away from hurricane Fiona’s path when it hit Atlantic Canada. Thank you for your book updates and the linkup. I added my link.

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  25. Hi Donna, welcome home. We have also developed limits for travel as we age and how smooth or rough the ride dictates duration tolerance. Sounds like you had a bit of a rough ride. Being home will cure that and you will be recharged and ready to go again in no time. Thanks for the update on the traveling book.

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    1. Thanks, Suzanne – I am glad that it is not just Richard and I who have developed more limits on travel as we age. We have always considered ourselves to be adventurous travellers at heart. Being ill while we were away was a strong reminder of the comfort and benefits of home.

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  26. I adore being home. I get your joy. Glad you’re back where you want to be. As for how my September went… never a dull moment with a husband on the cusp of retirement and the weather finally turning autumnal.

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  27. You went to some very beautiful places! I’m looking forward to getting some traveling done next year. Since 2020 it seems there have been many obstacles to getting away. But I am lucky I, too, enjoy my home!

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  29. Pardon the second reply. A song has come to mind – Almost Home by Craig Morgan. It can be an absence of hours or weeks but I never cease to experience a huge sigh in my body when I come up the hill from the east or down the hill from the west. HOME!

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  30. Nice marmot(s)!😉 Do you get the reference? If not, I’ll tell you later…

    I can’t imagine how great it must feel for you to be home at last, after your summer. Wishing you a peaceful fall with no more surprises! Welcome back to the island, Donna 💕

    Deb

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    1. Thanks, Janis – There is much to be said about the familiar and the comfortable. During our long journey, Richard and I were incredibly grateful for friends and family who reached out and continued to check on us. We were very touched by this and it made a very positive difference.

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  32. There’s a special joy that comes with turning a corner and knowing you’re seconds away from coming home. It’s only match is turning the key and stepping through the door. Welcome back Donna.

    For songs about home, this is the song that I immediately thought of. Individually the artists are not my favorite – I can listen to so much of them – but put together, I think they combine the best of each.

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    1. Thanks, Sandy – I hadn’t heard of that song — or the artists (seriously, I swear that I do live under a rock). I found it to be very powerful. I also found the comments for the song on the YouTube post to be very interesting. “Home is where you fell safe
      Home is where you love
      Home is where you are comfortable
      Home is where you can be yourself
      Home is where you can be free
      Home is where your heart is
      Home is where you can let loose
      Lastly home is where you can just express who you are and who you want to be where ever you are whoever your with when you feel safe that’s home.” So very true!

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  35. Hi Donna – thanks for these great pictures. The one of the Grand Canyon is particularly stunning, although I agree, that first glimpse of home after being away is always the best. 🙂

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    1. Hi, Marty – I thought that you might like that video! Seeing the news clips of all of the devastation done by recent hurricanes in Florida, in our Maritime Provinces and other areas, makes me even more grateful for a safe and secure home. I vow to never take this for granted. I hope that all and Gorgeous continue to stay safe — and with power.

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    1. Hi, Corinne – I believe that our appreciation of ‘home’ changes at different stages of our lives. Whatever the reason, I could not be more delighted than finally being back home. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.

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  39. Gorgeous shots of travel and the sense of adventure it brings, Donna! But that peace of knowing you can go back home, well there is nothing like it. As much fun as I had with other bloggers last week in Oregon, I was relieved to be home with my hubby and dogs and just enjoy my house. BTW, my WOTY is barely a sidenote this month.

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    1. Hi, Terri – I look forward to reading more about your Blogger Meet Up. I have greatly loved the ones that I have attended. I understand when WOTY’s become a brief sidenote some months. But according to Fitbit, you still outwalked me (by far) last week! 😀

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  40. After 47 years away from home, we retired and returned four years ago to live in an annex to my childhood home. After a dozen moves and nine countries, returning to where I ‘know’ people and am known in the community (even if I have to use my maiden name!) has been a good move. We will move thirty steps into the main family house later this month, and look forward to creating a ‘no place /peace like home’, with our travel treasures around is too.
    Thanks for your writing and encouragement, Donna. xx

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  43. Looking at your photos, it seems like you’ve been to some beautiful places lately! But yes, there’s no place like home. I’m so happy I now have a home that feels truly like HOME. When I’m away, although I love being where I choose to go most of the times, I miss home, which I never did in the past.

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  44. You’ve had such an exciting series of travels, I can well understand finding rest at home. Welcome back! for recuperation so that you can be ready for your next trip!

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    1. Hi, Ju-Lyn – Thank you for your kind, encouraging words. Honestly, I cannot even begin to think of a next trip yet. But I do realize that my thoughts will roam there sooner or later! 😀 I hope that all is well for you.

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      1. We are doing well; we remain optimistically cautious and still exercise some degree of social self-isolation. Mostly I walk with friends to catch up with them.

        We get another booster in November (hopefully the newest bivalent vaccine) and we’ll see if we can start to do more then.

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  45. Wonderful to hear you are back home and enjoying it, Donna. Sometimes after being away for a while, you do crave that stability. It looked like you had a good time going places and made many memories, which you can look back on now that you’re home. September was busy for me. Busy with work and writing and life in general. We are heading into spring and soon summer over here, and I’m looking forward to a break in the warmer months 🙂

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