After our swappers left, a package arrived from Europe. They had sent a movie set in our Manhattan neighborhood in the same kind of old-fashioned tenement building where our apartment is located. I was really touched by their thoughtfulness. This is the ideal home exchange gift -- they had really taken the time to select something that related to their stay at our place. Of course, the film was in their native language, which none of us speak, but it's the thought that counts. Along with the gift they had included a sweet note thanking us for making their stay so comfortable and special.
Home exchange is completely different from a hotel stay. The best part of home exchange is the connection between families from different places who would otherwise never meet. I took one look at that movie, set in the very period I had described to them -- when the building they stayed in was first built -- and knew that the swappers "got it". They understood what our home meant to us. It is a link to the history of my city, my family and even my ethnicity. I told the exchangers that one thing I like about my home, despite how humble it may seem, is imagining the generations of hopeful immigrants who had lived there before I arrived. Granted, our neighborhood is now so gentrified and trendy that a struggling New American would never be able to afford to live there, but bits and pieces of the area's rich heritage remain. I had shared that with the swappers and they had understood.
SUBSCRIBE NOW You can subscribe to this blog to receive each day's post. Just enter your email below :
No comments:
Post a Comment