Kate's Point of View

The Product of Creative Frustration

Tag: writing101

Three Things That Mean Home

Home is where the heart is. – Pliny the Elder

This place you return to is home. – Kirsty Gunn

Where though art, that is home. – Emily Dickenson

Quotes about home abound. But what makes a place a home? I don’t know if there are things that apply to everyone, but here is what makes my home … home.

1. This Face. Wonder Boy the perfect travel partner, as trips around the world for the past ten years have proven, and he makes my life and home a happier place.

Jason in a Haka Topi Kathmandu, Nepal.

Wonder Boy at Brew Ha Ha in CIncinnati in 2012.

Me and Wonder Boy in a workshop at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, making trim for costumes.

2. This Face. Notorious B.I.G., or Biggie, is my not-so-little shadow. He hates to be picked up (see his face in the first image below) but loves to nap in my lap. When he rests his little chin on me, it’s perfection.

Biggie spends half of his time looking terrified of me - mostly when I'm picking him up.

Biggie sleeps soooo much. My favorite is when he naps right on top of me.

3. History. Throughout my home are details of both mine and Wonder Boy’s pasts. An antique bookshelf by the front door. And old clock on the fireplace mantle. Photo albums that pictures going back to long before either of us were born. Mementos from all of the trips I’ve traveled in with Wonder Boy. Stuffed animals and toys from when we were little. I try not to dwell too much in the past, but the past is what makes me who I am and what prepares me for what comes next. Having pieces of my history around me helps me feel armed for the future.

An Update Over Coffee

If we were having coffee right now…

I’d tell you about the awesome book I just finished (The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George) and ask you if you’d read anything good lately.

I’d let you know that Wonder Boy and I invested in some rental property a while back. It’s finally rented out (whew!) and learning to become landlords has been an interesting process.

I’d tell you how surprised I was when I realized that it was more than a year ago that I started having symptoms that led to me having a hysterectomy last November. I’m feeling great and grateful that all of that is in the past.

I’d express how excited I am to see Father John Misty perform next week and admit that, yes, I did invite him to dinner even though I haven’t heard back. I’m persisting in inviting people whose work I enjoy to dinner. Even if it only works one in a hundred times, that 1% makes everything worth it.

Finally, I would wrap my hands around my hot drink and say how sad I am to see cold weather quickly approaching. Warm weather is my favorite weather. And although having a snow blower makes winter more fun, I’d pass on all that fun in a heartbeat for just a little more hot sunshine.

Good morning! #unionstreetcafe #ohiouniversity #athens #athensohio

A photo posted by Kate (@katespointofview) on

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