When a Place Feels Like Home Before You Understand Why

Have you ever found a place that felt like home long before you understood why?

A place that somehow felt familiar the very first time you stood within it.

As though a part of you had been waiting for it long before you ever arrived.

I think many of us carry that feeling as children.

We imagine places before we ever see them.

Worlds that feel softer somehow.

Safer.

More beautiful and perhaps a little magical?

Places where something inside us feels free.

When I was a little girl, I became completely fascinated by unicorns.

Not in a passing childhood phase kind of way.

I mean truly fascinated.

My family knew it very well.

It was the reason I always wanted a horse.

The reason fantasy filled so much of my imagination growing up.

The reason unicorns somehow continued appearing throughout my life and never truly left my heart.

And as many of you know from Chapter 5 of my book *The Window Where Lavender Grows* (“The Gift of Eirian”), I was once visited by a unicorn in a dream as a child.

That dream stayed with me.

Not only because I experienced it so vividly that I truly believed it was real…

but because of what it also gave to me.

Wonder.

Hope.

Gentleness.

Magic.

The feeling that there was still beauty somewhere in this world waiting to be found.

Then life became heavy.

Like many people, I slowly lost pieces of myself trying to survive the world around me.

And somewhere along the way, that childlike wonder became less outspoken, yet still remained tucked away within me like a forgotten treasure chest.

Then I came to Scotland.

And something strange happened.

For the first time in a very long time…

I felt something inside me awaken again, as if that treasure chest had finally been found and reopened.

The hills.

The rain.

The old stone buildings.

The stories carried by this land.

The quiet strength woven into everything here.

And then I discovered that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn.

I remember staring in complete disbelief.

Out of all the places in the world…

I somehow ended up building a life in the one place whose symbol had already lived inside my heart since childhood.

How could I not feel there was something meaningful about that?

The more I learned about Scotland, the more deeply I fell in love with it.

Even the thistle stayed with me.

A flower that survives despite harsh conditions and protects itself when necessary.

I understood that deeply.

Because for a very long time, life felt dark to me.

But Scotland slowly began to glow within the darkness.

A vibrant rainbow after the storm.

Little by little, this land brought warmth back into parts of me I thought had gone cold forever.

And somewhere along the way…

I stopped feeling like I was only surviving.

I started feeling alive again.

That feeling became *Alba.*

By day, this piece bursts with vibrant colour and movement.

But when darkness falls, *Alba* begins to glow.

Because sometimes the brightest parts of us only reveal themselves after we have walked through the dark.

If this piece speaks to you or resonates with your own story, the original artwork is available for purchase.

✨ *Alba* ✨

Acrylic on Canvas

32” long × 40” wide × 1” thick

£975

Prints and print-on-demand items featuring *Alba* — including mugs, posters, and more — are also available by enquiry through my website:

[www.mabv2.art](http://www.mabv2.art)