Home is where the heart is

Went to visit Auntie Jean last weekend as Peter's mom wanted to pick up some berries from her. Since her house is exactly the opposite of our future dream house at Hillside Apartment,(which makes her our future neighbours), I'm pretty curious about their interior design hence decided to tag along.

Auntie Jean and her husband are one warm and friendly couple. i was touched by their generous hospitality as they were eagerly showing us around their house and offered us a nice warm cup of aromatic Saffron mint tea. In their mid fifties perhaps, they have a welcoming home with warm wooden laminated floor and a naughty schnauzer who cant stop biting our fingers (playfully) to express his welcome to the guest of his master. Beethoven (yes, thats his name, cheeky isnt it) is the second dog's of the family. The first one died a year ago and Aunty Jean was devastated. In fact there are still many photos of him hanging on the wall, reminding the family about their precious moments together.

The reality is that animals have shorter lifespan compare to human, and most of the pet owners refuse to have another pet after they lost their first. Its not hard to understand as many of us are not strong enough to face the heartache of letting our dear friend go when the time comes.

Well, auntie Jean thought she can never keep another dog for the rest of her life after the lost, but she did anyway, because of one reason "we had so much of love to give to the doggies", she said. And that touched me deeply.

Miko, my precious girl

All of us are capable to love so much more than we think we can, but most of the time we refuse to live out the capacity. We might not realize it at first, but we will soon discover that the fear of losing is not the great risk of our feelings in caring for someone. As we survive the heartache, anticipate the next, it actually strengthen us and replenish what we have dispersed, and that further expands our aptitude in love even more.

The short visit reminded me of what we want our future home to be. A place where our love can be freely expressed to each other. A place where our love for food, for doggies, for music and movies can be shared with our families and friends. And hopefully one day, our joy can be even extended to some distant friends or any person in need as well.

Looking at Auntie Jean's home made me craved so much for a home of my own. Although we are still in the process of closing the sales and purchase agreement for our place, and yes its still empty and bare, but its amazing that in such a short period of time, we had harbor so much of feelings and love for the place.

And i know for sure that this will be a home where our heart is and we will definitely have rooms for a puppy too.