I’m honored to have an article in the spring issue of The Truly Co magazine! The theme for this issue is “home”, and I wrote about my view of home, the south, and my Asian background. It’s a beautiful magazine–you’ll be inspired and will love it. I hope you can locate a copy and sit down and enjoy the full magazine.

Here’s a little snippet of my article:

When I finally arrive back home, I hear the voices, the ones I grew up listening to. Their southern accent is a sweet, familiar sound to my homesick ears. I used to speak with a southern accent, but now it only emerges when I’m in the south or am having a conversation with someone who speaks that way too. It seems my accent is only snoozing, waiting for a chance to come out and speak its voice.

My parents speak a different accent, one from southern Asia, from a different country and continent. Yet this, too, is the sound of home. The sounds of home ground and sustain me when the world around me is spinning.

Home looks like the air full of drifting pink camellias, the bright sun, the deep blue sky. A soft warm breeze brushes past me. Grasshoppers the size of a small child’s hand leap in the grass. Lizards scurry along the walls of the house. I drive through the town square flanked by street lamps and old-fashioned shops to get to the church I grew up in.

I also remember the savory smells of home: chicken curry, basmati rice, sliced okra sauteed in cumin, and fresh mangoes whenever we could get them. Long before chai earned its western fame and household name, my mother brewed homemade chai with a blend of spices on the stove each morning. And on many summer days, my mother placed a large glass jar full of water and tea bags on the back deck, allowing the warmth of the sun to brew the tea. I’d watch the water swirl from clear to deep brown, before she added fresh mint and sugar and a few ice cubes. I’d have the best iced tea in the south…

…and the rest is in the magazine!

What is home for you? Where is home for you? Is it a complex answer, or is it a straightforward answer? For me, the answer is more complex. Share in the comments — I’d love to know what home means to you. : )