A PLACE CALLED HOME

The other day, while waiting for the train at an empty train station somewhere far on the swedish countryside, I observed two other persons approaching. A lady in her sixties, with a little doggy who tried to run faster than his leach allowed him to (causing him to almost suffocate himself), and a bearded - nervously smoking - slightly overweighted man who must have been somewhere in his thirties. Given the silence around, it wasn´t all that hard to overhear what they were talking about; "...if you put the money on my account today then I should have it by monday. I have 500,-sek now, which should work for doing some shopping this evening, so I can buy some meatballs and pasta... the usual...". They embrace each other and suddenly I see the man is crying. "Then we´ll probably see with Christmas", he says. "Is it really going to be fine for now?", the lady asks gently. It suddenly strikes me it must be mother and son. And while looking at them, I try to picture myself those two persons some 20 years earlier; the mother with her little boy, caring for his well being, trying to give him the best she has, to make this world a beautiful place for him... a safe home. Even if they both looked much older now, for her he´ll probably always be that little boy, and for him she´ll always be his loving mother.

When the train approaches they give each other a last big hug. As we move away from the little countryside station, I see the lady watching from the platform, where she stayed until the train disappeared in the forest. I wonder what was going through her mind.

After a while I hear the man asking to the person seated opposite him where she´s heading for. "Stockholm?", he says to confirm. The girl nods her head. "Will you show me the way?", he asks her.

I don´t know the whole story behind encounters as such, yet they do bring up some thoughts. For a parent it must be difficult to see their child take new roads, to trust in the fact that life will be good for the child they love, yet somehow it´s also important to let go. It was touching to see how calm the lady was... even if inside she might have felt something else. But she told her son without words; "it´ll be just fine, I´m always with you". Family bounds are something special, and even if there are distance, time and life; this love -that was there from the very first start- will always be a place called "home".