Lesson 2:1 – Home

Write a short story (600-1000 words max) that describes your sense of home and the values and stories that you use to connect yourself to your home.

Home to me is a place of togetherness.  Growing up, home was just that – my dad, mum, brother and I were always together.  Yes, my brother and I would be off at school during the days, and my parents would be at work, but when we were at home we were always together.  Sports, mainly soccer, was also a stronghold around our house.  With dad being our coach when we were younger, and mum being our biggest fan, soccer was usually a hot topic around the house.  During the weeks we would be running between different soccer practices and academies my brother and I attended, and on the weekends we would be prepared and excited to get to, and hopefully win, our respective games.  This togetherness goes beyond the physical confines of our home.  I would always feel like I was safe at home regardless of where we were.  Whether it was soccer trips that took us to all corner’s for the world, annual summer trips up to Green Lake, or simply a family hike our outing around home.   The togetherness of our home and family is something I will never forget, because even now that we’re all older, if we are all together in the same place, it is exactly the same.  This aspect of home will never change for us.

Here is a photo of my brother and I doing our thing together when we were younger (not sure what’s up with the face he’s making):

Beyond the home I grew up in with my parents and brother, home to me is also the homes of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that we constantly visited.  Any downtime in our soccer schedules would mean a trip to Nanaimo/Parksville to see my mum’s family, or a trip to Victoria to see my dad’s family.  The comfort of our families constant inclusion and interest in one another’s lives is what also makes these places home.  Therefore, it is not so much the physical aspects of our homes that make it, but rather the people, inclusiveness, and inherent interest in each others lives that create my definition of home.  Although some members of our extended family have moved further away now, and we don’t get to see them as often, we all always take off right where we left off. At home. Together.

All in all this assignment taught me something I had never really thought about before.  Previously when I would think about home, I would think of my parents house, and how it is today.  But really, that isn’t what home is to me when I really sat down to think about it.  Home to me is the family I have, and the experiences I have been through together with them.

Here is a photo with some cousins, my Grandpa, brother and myself on a more recent trip to my Grandpa’s place in Nanaimo:

Works Cited

‘Green Lake, BC’. Map. Google Maps. 30 Jan, 2015. Web. 30 Jan, 2015. https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Green+Lake,+British+Columbia+V0K/@51.2126726,-122.0112639,7z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x53800f87c7d32af5:0xe0c3c7e305081269