Throughout my life, my beliefs as to what I understood to be my home have changed many times. As I grew up, expanded my knowledge, had fun with my creativity, and learned from my experiences, what I used to distinguish between what is my home and what is not transformed.
I was born in Ukraine. At the age of 6, my parents decided to leave everything and bring us to Canada at the hopes of a better life with more opportunities. We left my grandparents, cousins, friends, career, and house to come to Vancouver and start new. As I grew up, the values and stories that connected me to what I could call a home were centered around where my parents were. My stage of dependence at that age made me create re-assurance and safety around my parents.
As a child, I did not feel as much as a connection to my ‘first’ home in Ukraine as I do now, being much older. In my opinion, growing up is very influential to what you would say is your home. Instead of having just a home, you have many homes. To this day, my home has changed from being where my parents are, to a more expanded view that encompasses the area where all my loved ones, my friends, and my family are. Home is no longer just a single place, rather it is made up of many places that I feel that I have a connection to. The values that I place in an area that I would call my home are warmth, love, friendship, and support. I believe you can find those things in many places.
To broaden the definition of home, I feel that I have a home in places that I’ve never even been too. These are the places that I have an interest for or even some form of connected emotion. For instance, I feel some sort of pulling curiosity towards Japan, Pompeii, Newfoundland, and Ireland. Never been there, but I can still tell myself that if I were to venture out to those places I would find something good there. Comfort, excitement. That is my definition of home and the values that follow it.
Hey Anna,
I find it interesting that you consider certain places home even when you have not been to them. Reading that immediately made me think of discussions I have had with others about nationality and what it means to be a Canadian, American, Italian, Egyptian, or a member of any group claiming to be a nation.
Many seem to take it for granted that if you are born in a certain place you belong to the dominant nationality there, and if you were not born in a certain place you are not a member of the dominant nationality there. However, nationality is a far more flexible and subjective concept that is rooted in one’s own perception of which groups they consider themselves a part of, and thus it cannot be reduced simply to birthplace.
Likewise, I consider home to be a flexible and subjective concept like nationality, and I think that is illustrated well in your post. That you have not been to a certain place does not preclude it from being associated with the same sense of comfort and excitement that lead you to consider nearby places home, and in that way home isn’t always bound by geography.
-Spencer
Thanks for reading my post!
I completely agree. In my opinion, the place that you call home is very fluid and subjective. It could be related to your interests, hobbies, passions, or even where your loved ones are (which could be all over the place!)