Home

[Me-Ike]

Do you have one?

I don't mean the flat or house you live in, I assume that everyone here has a roof over his head. I mean this place where it feels right when you return to it; be it because of the people, the rooms or the countryside.

To illustrate what I mean:

For me it used to be the people I grew up with in that one house in that one village. Realistically, it doesn't make much sense any more to search for that, of course. My siblings grew up, my parents divorced, the house was sold, the village would likely bore me today (or at least not provide me with work).

But even now, 8 years later, I haven't found that one place where I feel as much at ease as I did there. I like the flat I currently live in and the people I live with, but it still feels like a transitional phase. I wonder when that will change.

How about you?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The internet. The nightlight is always left on for me.

 

[Me-Ike]

The internet gives you a warm fuzzy feeling? And here I thought it existed solely within the disgust-hilarity duality.

Seriously though, are you being earnest? I honestly can't say because I'd never connote a virtual place with something as tangible (to me) as a home. But I don't claim (yet) to be the end all of feelings.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

For me, it is where I currently am - Anchorage, Alaska. I just moved back here after 15 years in Atlanta and couldn't be happier about it.

I have old friends here - people who have proven themselves to me over and over again. And the town itself gives you room to breathe. The traffic in Atlanta is staggering - here life is a lot less stressful.

Anchorage has always been good to me - in the past, and now.

 

[Jetfire]

I have yet to find my home. It surely isn't where I grew up and am living in now.

 

[Me-Ike]

^ I actually already looked up Anchorage when you mentioned it in the "How do you ask for coffee" thread; I liked the sound of it but didn't know where it was.

I like the less stressful part, though. I think this would be an important aspect for me as well if I'd ever seriously look into finding a home. Not too many inhabitants and some scenery around the city seems tantamount in this regard. Anchorage sounds like a nice place.

Is your family in that area as well?

Edit:

I have yet to find my home. It surely isn't where I grew up and am living in now.

Aw, it might just be a matter of time! I am hoping the same thing.

Where do you live? Friends and family there? Would you say that it is the place that isn't your home or your circumstances?

 

[Jetfire]

Where do you live? Friends and family there? Would you say that it is the place that isn't your home or your circumstances?

The Bermuda triangle of the south. Virginia. I don't want to go into the friends and family bit...but I want to start a new somewhere else. Circumstances come into play.

 

[Kestra]

I still think of my parents' house as home sometimes. It's a large house on about three acres and over the years we've spent so much time there with family and friends. My sister and I are both in CA now and we have friends who feel weird now when they don't come over to my parents' house after their own Thanksgiving dinners with their families.

My parents have just always welcomed everyone, no questions asked. We had friends over all the time in high school, brought friends back on weekends during college. My uncle lived with us when he first moved to the US and then when his wife and kids came over they lived there for a few years too.

It's a home filled with lots of love and good memories.

In terms of other places, I'd say maybe Alaska. I only visited very briefly when I was fifteen and I had that sensation of coming home after a long journey away. It might have been a fluke though.

I had just started really feeling like Chicago was my home when we decided to leave.

 

[Jetfire]

"Home is where the heart is"

 

[Me-Ike]

The Bermuda triangle of the south. Virginia. I don't want to go into the friends and family bit...but I want to start a new somewhere else. Circumstances come into play.

A fresh start is always daunting, but taking the risk of going someplace entirely new can, through adventure, at least give you a love and familiarity for a place you wouldn't achieve otherwise.
Possibly not a substitute for a home but a nice feeling anyway.

It's a home filled with lots of love and good memories.

The way you've described your parents' house, that's exactly how it used to be for me, too. Love and lots of good memories just created this different feel in the air which I miss now.

As for Chicago, at least you have your husband to move with. That way you always take a bit of home with you.

 

[Kestra]

The way you've described your parents' house, that's exactly how it used to be for me, too. Love and lots of good memories just created this different feel in the air which I miss now.

As for Chicago, at least you have your husband to move with. That way you always take a bit of home with you.

Oh yeah, for sure. And there's something good about it in a way? Like it's just the two of us out here and we have to be a good team because, well, it's just us.

Okay sorry for this, but I can’t sleep and I’m feeling really affectionate about my parents right now so I’m going to write a small novel. I wish I could somehow share what it feels like at their house, because it’s something I’ve shared with pretty much every RL friend. I’ve often disagreed with my parents over the years, but it’s from them that I learned what it means to be generous and warm.

My dad came to the US with eight dollars so while I generally don’t like being boastful, I’m proud of both him and my mother. Their house is a very tangible representation of everything they have accomplished. We moved into the house when I was around three years old. Every year was filled with great memories. There was a lot of land so we got together with neighborhood kids and organized soccer teams. There were birthday parties with piñatas and treasure hunts. My parents always loved entertaining so there were no shortage of parties. Our house became the de factor place for the annual Diwali party for our community. It wasn’t a small thing, either! All the kids would choreograph dances and acts and we actually constructed a stage and sets every year. There was the show, then dinner, and then dancing. Our Diwali parties are some of my best memories.

As we grew older, my parents were always strict with us but welcoming with our friends. Anyone could come over at any time as long as it was okay with their parents. Friends would come over after working late shifts, sleepovers were at the house after high school dances. We started doing Thanksgiving with family, but then later in the evening our friends would show up and they’d join in hanging out and playing games with my family. In college, our friends would come home with us on the weekends. Sometimes we’d be celebrating an Indian holiday and they’d join in.

When I got married, the only thing I really wanted (besides marrying my husband) was to have the wedding at home. Sadly it turned out not to be realistic and I decided to have it at a hotel instead of stressing out my poor mother. But my parents threw the sangeet (a pre-wedding party) at their house and it felt so perfect. Everyone my husband and I loved, all under one roof, in the house that had given me so many happy memories.

There’s been so much love and effort put into their house. It’s a huge house but filled with so much warmth. I’m so proud of my parents and only wish my dad’s parents could have come to the US to see what he has accomplished.

 

[Me-Ike]

^ Thank you!

My notion and memories of my home are quite similar. The people it involves; the events that took place, big and small (coffee and cake on a Sunday afternoon with the grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins ...); this feeling, which you give and receive, of being welcome and generating happiness with your presence; certain days which seem mundane to others but are important to you (a walk with the dog).

Fundamentally it's much the same. For you, of course, it also involves an amazing story of someone establishing this against the odds; I can see how that makes it even more special to you.

That's what I was hoping for, to hear how there is this one place all over the world. If I can't have it for myself right now, then I can at least bask in the homes of others, dammit!

 

[Sky]

Not anymore. My parents don't live in the same place they did when I was a kid, my grandparents have moved as well, I live in a foreign country.. Some 7 years ago my husband and I had a very nice old apartment in my home city. We lived there only 3 years but it has always somehow been 'home' to me in my memories. It just felt right, in a way that no place has quite felt after that.

 

[Me-Ike]

So was it for you more about the people than the place? Do you think you can have a home abroad?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The internet gives you a warm fuzzy feeling? And here I thought it existed solely within the disgust-hilarity duality.

Seriously though, are you being earnest? I honestly can't say because I'd never connote a virtual place with something as tangible (to me) as a home. But I don't claim (yet) to be the end all of feelings.

Well actually it does give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. It's always there, my friends and family are there too even if they live far away. I met my husband on the internet. It's always been about some of the things I love best in life, the things that I don't always find in a suburban existence. Connections, information, humor. The most important thing there is your words and ideas and that has always felt right to me, a much more me thing than all the social maneuverings and small talk that most day to day interactions are made up of.

However that really only works because outside of that I've always felt transient. I love where I live and know many people yet no matter how long you live in this country (Australia) you are always on one level the foreigner if you came from some where else. A geographical factor I think because of distance and being a vast island. Even after several decades here my friends invariably come from somewhere else and experience that same distancing.

My family is also my home in that we're almost a subculture within ourselves. It's not really dependent on place though and there have been times when we've been scattered and the internet is virtually our house we hang out in.

 

[Jetfire]

@teacake My home is Silvermoon City!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

LOLOL I'm partial to Dalaran myself! Fabulous inns.. and the cakes!

 

[Jetfire]

I love the whole Blood Elf area...including Ghostlands!

[edit] It is the only reason I bother with WoW.

[Back On Topic] I feel I need to make my own home cause nothing has ever felt like home.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Ghostlands has some of the best quest lines and so realistically decayed. I like seeing how the Belfs are trying to hold it all together. All the Belf areas crack me up because there the are in the middle of some awful craphole, Hellfire say.. and they have all their tents and purple draperies and cushions and pretty serving tables.

My orc just sleeps on skins on the dirt. She has no use for such fineries.

 

[Jetfire]

Before my recent drama here where I live...I started 2 new toons...a male Night Elf & a female Blood Elf...both were under lvl 20. NElf & BElf is the way I always role.

Another thing about my life...circumstances and the toxic relatives never make anything feel like home.