There is a tiny percentage of the population that lives like Gypsies, Vagabonds, and Nomads. These are great names for boats, but most of us limit our residences to random locations for less than three weeks a year. For the rest of the time, we want nothing more than to put down roots. Some place to call home, hang our hat, let our hair down, and kick off our shoes. An unfortunate phrase has become associated with one of the most expensive purchases many of us ever make. The ‘Forever Home’. Execute a Google search for types of homes. There are beach homes, mountain homes, split-level homes, farmhouses, and even old folks homes, but no forever homes. What does one look like? How many bedrooms and Bathrooms does it have? Does it have an English garden, turret, or a hot tub?

I understand the concept, but it is an illusion and a false narrative, and ‘Forever’ does not have nearly as long of a time frame as we might assume. What happens when the perfect 2+2 family is surprised with the number 3, and there are no longer enough bedrooms? What if someone is transferred across the country for work, there is no longer enough room in the kitchen for all the cooks or a storm deposits a tree in your living room? The list of potential changes is endless and can quickly make our ‘Forever’ Home into anything but. Our needs change, as do our tastes, the levels of finish we desire, the amount of square footage we need, not to mention the modern conveniences we cannot live without. You can call your Home whatever you want, but it falls considerably short of forever. A more appropriate description may be a personal way station.

For first-time homeowners, the expectation this defining phase precipitates puts incredible and unnecessary pressure on individuals still driving their inherited used Subaru but managed to accumulate enough cash to make a down payment on their own crib. How would you feel about forever socks and underwear? In a different context, Forever does not have the same romantic appeal.

The house you have now is not the house you will have in the future. Even if you stay put and do nothing to the structure, including addressing the grandma’s wallpaper in the kitchen, I can guarantee it will not be the same house in 60-70 years. For better or worse, you will change, and so will your house, even if your address never does so. Let’s eliminate this phase from our lexicon or develop a more accurate description of where we live. Let us call it ‘Home’ and embrace it as the place where you hang your hat, let down your hair, kick off your shoes, and relax in comfort. For this moment in time, you are Home.