the pigeon at home

Ordinarily in life, I would not compare myself to a pigeon.  Many 

people call them “flying rats”, and I’m hardly a flying rat –thank you very much.  I don’t have wings or feathers or lay eggs.  I coo only on rare occasions.  I would never regurgitate to feed my young; I’d rather use a grocery store.  In one sense, however, I am very much like a pigeon.

The Oxford English Dictionary online provides the following definition of ‘home’:

 "Home [verb]: (Of a pigeon bred for long-distance racing)fly back to or arrive at its loft after being released at a distant point."

Life has a tendency to release us at distant points, just as homing 

pigeons experience.  Just like pigeons, it is our instinct to seek 

out the place we feel most comfortable.  We home.  We may travel 

great distances –sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically –but 

we always search for that place where we are surrounded by what we 

know and love.  Pigeons can be sentimental –homing is nothing if not 

sentimental –but ruthlessly efficient in the pursuit of home. 

In real life, the roost I inhabit has little plastic blocks littering the floor like landmines.  Sometimes laundry does not get put away immediately.  Sometimes dishes do not get put away immediately.  Sometimes books do not get put away immediately –or ever.  What can I say?  Pigeons are not known for their cleanliness.  When I do get home, sometimes I am tired from where life has taken  me that day.  We pigeons are not perfect, despite our nearly perfect homing instinct.  We just want to settle in and let the tough parts of the journey fall away.  When the time is right, I will clean and straighten and repair, and everything will be closer to ideal again.  For now, I am safe and I am home.

While writing this, I have developed a newfound appreciation for my home.  And for pigeons.  Pigeons understand.  Home is everything.  Home is the direction you head no matter where you are dropped.  Home is the location where you know your travel is done.  In the end, it’s not bad to be like a pigeon –not bad at all.