The geographical location of childhood makes up an important part of all the memories one attributes to the place originally called home. Long after, the sensory memories linger. It doesn’t matter if an individual feels more at home living far away from of a family’s place of origin, over the years, the stories persist. Most of the remembrances remain vivid, no matter if they are happy or sad. Based on the wide variety of stories told by immediate family members throughout one’s childhood, the concept of home is different for many people. It isn’t until many years later, after that one has grown up, when someone asks about a favorite meal, it turns out to be something you haven’t had for many years. The only thing homemade about it was that someone heated up the canned soup or the pot pie dinners and kept cooking a bit longer so that the smell of dinner the filled cooking the house.
Feeling at home is critical to staying in a place for a long while. It may have taken the pioneer families much longer to truly settle in and stay a good long while, yet most of them needed a lot less than we do today. Material items such as cell phones and enormous flat screen TVs weren’t invented yet. The 160 acres given to each homesteader took a lot of time and energy, as it was a requirement to “prove-up” on that property. It changed an entire view of comfort. Gifts for any holiday were mostly utilitarian, or homemade sweets.
The invention of the commercial Valentine’s Day is attributed to a woman in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1840. Possibly she was either an entrepreneur or a jilted lover. She might have been the mother of a youngster who she needed to get her youngster out of the house. The notion of gifting your romantic partner with big ticket items was unthinkable. The commercial holidays were not that commercial, as the idea of showing someone you care by gifting them with chocolate, flowers or card. Although the holiday was said to have been created in 490 AD in honor of a Christian saint, our celebration was never in honor of feeling loved or cared for in the earliest days. At least, it hardly brings to mind the luxury goods gifted in the 21st century. There’s nothing wrong with a lot more love and a box of chocolates.
By DOLLY VISCARDI