Monday, May 30, 2011

Home is where the heart is

Home.

The word can mean different things to different people. What or where is home to you? Is it where your parents live? Is it where you were born, or where you spent most of your childhood? Is it where you've mostly lived as an adult?

I'm a bit unsure. I guess these days for me, home is where my kids are. Before our recent interstate move I'd lived in the same city for most of the previous 30+ years. It's where I grew up, where I have many memories. But I don't think I call it home, it's familiar and comfortable, but not quite home. 

We haven't lived here for long enough yet for it to feel like home, but who knows, in the future it might feel that way. I think part of the reason I don't have that strong feeling of home in any particular place is because my parents moved a bit. There isn't the traditional family home to return to on visits. 

The closest thing I had to the traditional family home was my grandparents' place. They bought their house in Sydney when they were married in the 1930's, and lived there until they no longer could around 2004. The house hadn't changed at all in my memory, although there are photos to show otherwise. It, and my grandparents, were a constant in my life for over 30 years. As kids my brother and I would spend our school holidays there, our grandmother taking us on trips into the city or to the zoo. I think these special memories, and others created there over the years, is what makes Sydney feel like home for me. Even though I haven't lived there since I was 7, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling arriving in the city and I can't help but smile.

 
One thing I have to do every time I visit Sydney is head for Circular Quay. As soon as I catch a glimpse of the Bridge, the ferries, the Opera House I relax. I call it my spiritual place. Despite hundreds of people rushing about I can sit and watch the world go by, oblivious to the noise, and feel an incredible sense of peace. It's not exactly most people's idea of peace, but it definitely works for me.

Do you have somewhere that is truly home for you? Or a more spiritual place? What does home mean to you?

4 comments:

  1. As much as I used to complain about Canberra, it really does feel like home.
    HOWEVER
    As soon as I fly into London Heathrow a calmness comes over me.
    England is home to me. I guess it's because thats where my mum and brother and sister are, plus all of my "life long" friends are. You know, the ones that it doesn't matter how often we haven't spoken, when we do it's like I haven't been gone.

    QLD isn't home to me which is a little sad. Especially as it is for hubby now.

    xo

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  2. This really resonates!
    My home is where ever I'm currently residing.
    But my home home is where I grew up. The farm. Where my parent still live. Where my Dad has always lived...for 67 years. I can't imagine not being able to go back home..home. And I know that is pretty rare and I feel very lucky to have that.

    I love your grandparents home...it's absolutely lovely!

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  3. On one hand, I have always lived in NYC - and even when I lived upstate during my college days, NYC was always home.

    But as any NYer will tell you - we generally think of home as the borough in which we live. Though I have lived on Staten Island for more than 20 years now, I will always consider myself a Brooklynite.

    However, there are those who will tell you that my "home" is actually Disney World. I will have to admit that unlike the excitement that first time or infrequent visitors feel, I do indeed feel a sense of "being home" when I am there.

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  4. Redcliffe is my birthplace & the place I still call home even though I haven't lived there since I was 10. In the 18 or 19 years I lived in Melbourne the place never felt right, that said, I made the best friends in the world there. I adore Sydney & I love living here, but Redcliffe is my hometown & I'll always call myself a Queenslander.
    I like your blog by the way :-)

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