When someone asks you where home is what do you think about? Do you think about your physical house where you live; do you think about where you were born and grew up as a child; perhaps home is somewhere you have always lived?
For me, the last few years have been a journey of finding home. I was born, and grew up in New Zealand. I have some wonderful memories of growing up in my hometown and spending family holiday’s at our family batch, and then during my teen years having a wonderful group of friends who were always doing things together.
Then in 2002 we said goodbye to our home in NZ and moved over to Perth, Western Australia to start a new home there. After being in Perth for 7 years, meeting my lovely bride & bringing our eldest child into the world, we decided to go back to NZ, which I thought was home, continue life where I left off there. But things were different.
Life there was not the same as when I grew up, my old friends had moved on, work was not the same as before, even though I was doing the same thing. Everything was different and I did not like it.
So we decided to leave NZ and come back to Australia, but we did not think, at the time, that we wanted to go back to Perth, so we came here to the Gold Coast to give that a go, after all it is Australia where we felt more like home and are definitely glad to be on Oz soil.
But something’s still not quite right here. We don’t know anyone here, we don’t have any family here, it’s been very difficult trying to find work here (I’m still looking), and we haven’t been able to find a church.
So where’s “home”? I think for us, home is where family is; where the support and love of friends is; it’s where you feel comfortable.
I thought home was where I grew up, but after trying to re-plant in the old soil, I was reminded why I left in the first place.
So what about you? What does the word “home” mean for you?
I’ve been through this process too. More than once. At the moment I call both NZ (Blenheim) and Melbourne home. For me it’s where I feel comfortable, at ease, surrounded by loving people and my favourite things. In that sense then Melbourne is HOME home at the present time. I’ve been blessed with finding my ‘place’ here, my little slot in community where I feel useful and cared for. But then there is always that umbilical cord type link I feel for my home-land, NZ… I think that’ll I’ll eventually move back. Really I think that home isn’t a concrete place, it’s more about a feeling of connectedness with a community of people and that spiritual sense that this is where you are meant to be.
Nice post – I missed this one! I know just how you feel Scott – NZ, then England, then Aust, now Canada. We also don’t (really) know anyone in Canada. I have never been back to NZ since I left at 13 (absolutely no inclination) so I consider Australia to be my “country” now… but you’re right, home is where my husband is… no matter where that might be.