There are sights, sounds and smells that can instantly transport us through time and take us to familiar places. Those places may hold special memories of a time or a person. They may be places that bring us comfort, happiness, or peace.

On a recent trip back to my home town I took a walk through a familiar park. The waking path that hugs the river is lined with cottonwood trees. Usually the air is fragrant with the scent of the cottonwoods and flowing water. Though that day there was no fragrance in the air, I could still smell it, because my memory knows that aroma well.

In that same park is a bridge that arches the river and connects the banks. Many couples have engraved their initials along the wooden planks of that bridge. Over time the initials fade eventually leaving little clue that they once existed, except in the minds of the ones who put them there.

Every home town has the local food that has fed generation to generation. It may not always be five-star dining or gourmet cuisine. It is however, the local’s choice. What was once the hang out for teens in a small town becomes nostalgic grounds later in years.

Home is not just where our physical residence is but also a sense of belonging, grounding and being rooted.