Driving North on A7 towards Denmark, we pass through Hamburg with the jaw-dropping sight of the containers and the enormous cargo ships. We pass through a landscape we have seen many times, as it is the gateway to our home country.
Wait: Home?
Denmark is our country of origin. It has a unique vibe, something distinct. I am struggling to describe it.
The architecture stands out as more narrow and less decorated than in Germany. Everything is smaller. Farmland everywhere, almost no nature. Bridges.
Hardly any construction work on the roads that are in perfect shape. Everything is very neat.
We came on a public Holliday in the sunshine. People were smiling. We had a beautiful lunch stop in a nature park, went for a nice walk to enjoy the deer and trees and sun, and continued to visit Jesper's parents before we continued to park at our friends' farm.
Is this coming home?
We all have different perspectives on the case, but we all love Copenhagen very much and still feel Danish. We have become Danish nomads, and your youngest child has lived on the road for almost half his life. To him, it is very strange and unsettling that everyone else in the street will understand us when we talk to each other. To him, Danish is a private and personal language.
When I let go of my home and house five years ago, it was painful. I did it because I knew a better life and a greater adventure was on the other side. I knew back then that the feeling of “home” would change and that that change would be okay. Would be good.
Now, to me, home is where my family is. Home is the love.
Everything else is practical: The food, the clothes, the computers, the books. This matters much less than the feel of home, the love and commitment of having each other's back, of being in a private space, of unconditional love.
Sometimes people say children need a home to grow up in and from. I agree. But what they need is this: the vibe, the love, the commitment, the safety, the open-mindedness. Walls and stuff are not the core. Love is the core.
Love and light
Cecilie Conrad
# 137 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here
Images from the day
Comments