My Old Dorm Room

My old college dorm room was very Spartan by today’s standards. It had no computer, no cell phone, and no television. The furniture was two plain desks, two hard desk chairs, and two lumpy bunk beds. The heater never kept the room warm enough in the Winter either. I can still remember sitting and shivering in one of those hard chairs, struggling to read and understand Shakespeare with my half frozen feet buried under my bed blankets.

Still, that tiny room was my home for several years. It was the place where my roommate, friends, and I would gather to talk about the professors we liked, the classes we hated, and what we hoped to do with our lives. It was there we discussed the difficulties in understanding women. Even Shakespeare seemed easier. It was there that we listened to music, missed our families, and helped each other laugh the loneliness away.

Living in that little room for all those years taught me a few things too. It showed me that no matter where you are you can still carry your home in your heart. Even during the hardest times there, the love of God and my family lived within me. That love helped me to do my best in school, to help my friends, and to find joy in each day. I also learned that a big heart beats a big room any day of the week. I found that with love the smallest shack and the humblest hut becomes a home full of happiness, and without love the most magnificent mansion and the costliest castle can feel cold, empty, and alone.

May you always carry your home safely in your heart then. May you always fill each place you live with God-given love, laughter and joy. The price of your place doesn’t matter, but the love you share in it is priceless. That love will go on with you from room to room and house to house until you carry it to your eternal home in Heaven.

Joseph J. Mazzella