the other home

'Home' has come to mean different things over the last few years. It is where Johanna and I are and where Colin is with us sometimes. It is Melbourne's cbd where Colin has his 'work' apartment and we visit sometimes and it is also Melbourne where the rest of our children live. Home is Tasmania and Victoria and recently Queensland as well. Home has been an apartment, a caravan and a house, some with our belongings and some without. We have been coming and going, roaming here and there, following dreams, taking chances and making the most of opportunities. Home has come to mean not so much a particular physical space but wherever I am with those I love. Home is people and belonging not so much walls and doors.

This weekend 'home' was once again the Melbourne cbd apartment.

Literally on Bourke Street, 16 floors up it has a view of city sky scrapers; concrete, steel and glass, beautiful to some, in its own way. There are always people, lots of them, busy and moving purposefully. There is always noise, lots of it, trams and emergency vehicles and this weekend thanks to the Grand Prix fighter jets as well. There is always energy, lots of it, sounds, sights and smells, an assault on the senses.

'Home' in Melbourne means precious time with our children.

Saturday morning brunch at The Herbert meant we could see Rach, even if she was working. We sat ourselves at the bench opposite the coffee machine so we could see her and talk to her in snatches in between her coffee making. We just like to be near her. She joined us on her break, a few precious moments to catch up.

Sunday brunch was at Zac and Jan's new place (they have returned to Melbourne after a year in Canberra). It is the first time we have all been together since Christmas. Good food and time spent together, simple pleasures that deeply satisfy...