![\"Linus](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/charlietilstra\/files\/2016\/06\/Linus-Blanket-300x202.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt starts with a blanket.<\/p>\n
It was used to cuddle up in my secret spot reading a book cover-to-cover; it was dragged outside to sit on for picnics; it was used for family movie nights even though it was never big enough; it was even part of some of the most epic blanket forts that have ever existed. And after all this it\u2019s a little worse for wear, but it\u2019s still there; at home.<\/p>\n
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Right now that place that I’ve named home is a red-bricked dwelling with a forest behind it and a big grass field next to it. There\u2019s a basketball net in the driveway and tulips that my mom slaves away to bring back year after year. But this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the backyard.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been the same over the years and the one I have now is much different from when I was 8, but it\u2019s always had the necessities that encouraged the adventures of my sisterhood. My family has always had a strong belief in adventures<\/a> and testing and learning about our boundaries and surroundings. This place was the home to summers full of home-made slip-n-slides, mud fights, trampoline accidents, pool competitions and other adventures we came up with. In my memories there are sprinklers that we definitely broke from over-use and a little pink and blue plastic playhouse that we had to give away recently. And there\u2019s always my Beppe\u2019s (\u2018grandma\u2019 in Fries) voice in my head saying, \u201cYou need more fresh air, girl.\u201d<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s my room.<\/p>\n It\u2019s overflowing with mementos from my past from taping concert wristbands and passes to my desk, to useless souvenirs I\u2019ve picked up from around the world that remind me of everywhere I\u2019ve been, and a map showing all the places I want to go.<\/p>\n The family that comes with the house is pretty cool too.<\/p>\n My sisters who (while fighting all the while we were growing up) helped me come up with some amazing plans, and some that were rather questionable including a 3-person carrying-on-the-shoulders stunt that practically gave my mom a heart attack. Home is where for every birthday, soccer game, talent show and holiday my very Dutch grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all get together and just spend time together; sometimes it\u2019s in the pool, sometimes it\u2019s playing football, sometimes it\u2019s even making up our own games or telling embarrassing stories to each other. These are the people who I want to make proud and who I know couldn\u2019t ever not be.<\/p>\n The homes if my heritage are also somewhere in this mix. Some of it is in South America and other parts are in India \u2013 both of which I plan to visit one day. There\u2019s also a home in Wons, Friesland in the Netherlands, the place my grandfather grew up and have told me millions of stories about. I went there this last summer and stayed with relatives in a town that is smaller than most shopping malls. I saw the house where my grandfather grew up, the fields he raised dairy cows on, the bar where he had his first drink, and the World War II bunkers that he played in. All while doing this I proudly wore a Canadian flag sewed to my knapsack and told my relatives stories about what Canada is like (in broken Fries and English) because a homeland for me is one to take with you when you\u2019re away.<\/p>\n Finally there\u2019s the town I grew up in<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Friesland\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/charlietilstra\/files\/2016\/06\/Friesland-300x300.jpg\")
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