I grew up in Langley, B.C., all my life and have only lived in 2 houses just blocks away from each other until I moved away for university. I moved from my first house when I was only 5 years old and have very faint memories of the home, so I would consider my second home to be my real “childhood home” because most of my memories of “home” reside there. I would like to share four specific memories of home because these are the memories that helped me develop essential values applicable to life.

I’ll start this story off on a funny note because it is one of my first memories with the second house, but this property we were going to buy was an old farm that had a barn in the backyard, which was used by the previous owners for their horses. When we went over to look at the property before purchasing it, they had one of the horses in the barn, which I was very excited to see because I had never seen a horse before this experience. After spending about 15 minutes petting the horse, my parents told me that we had to leave; however, the horse was not ready for me to go. So, as I begin to walk away, the horse bites my shirt/back because he did not want me to leave but being a 5-year-old, I began to cry, assuming the horse tried to hurt me. At first, I did not want to see the horse again because I perceived him as evil. However, once I calmed down though, I was reassured by my parents and the previous homeowner that it was usual for the horse to do that when he expressed affection towards someone and doesn’t want them to leave. From this first memory of home, I was taught the value of forgiveness.

The home that we purchased needed to be completely rebuilt and the backyard was in no shape to have 3 little kids playing on. I can still remember when I was 5 years old, and we first bought the property, and I would spend every day outside with my Dad doing yard work on the property for example, helping him “drive” the excavator. Before we move forward, for reference, I would sit on his lap, and he would guide me operating the excavator; not a chance he was going to trust a 5-year-old drive a piece of machinery that size. However, I also would help him re-build his workshop along with other projects we needed to complete prior to being “settled” in. Regardless, some of my first memories of moving to that property helped my Dad construct it to what our family dreamed of it to be. This experience taught me the value that hard work pays off in the end.

We decided last minute while re-constructing the property that we wanted to put a hockey court in the backyard because my sister and I grew up playing hockey. The hockey court is a significant symbol in my memory of “home” because many of the memories I obtained growing up on that property came from playing in the hockey court with my friends. It taught me the value of having an excellent social network. For example, every winter, when the temperature was consistently below 0 degrees Celsius, we would freeze the hockey court over and turn it into an ice rink. When we froze the court, my sister and I would typically have our friends around and play ice hockey late into the evening and cap off the night with some hot chocolate. In the summer, my neighbours Alex and Brighton would play hockey in the court all day and sometimes have our friends over to have big hockey games. This was a time where I would get the opportunity to meet some of Brighton’s and Alex’s social network.

Another piece to home that is significant in my memory is my Dad’s workshop built on the property. I would often use the shop to help my Dad fix a vehicle he was working on or start doing my own projects there. The shop is an essential piece to my home experience because it taught me many important life lessons, including that I need to try new things, fail, and learn from my mistakes. Many of the days I spent working in that shop could be very frustrating because I would come across situations that I thought were impossible to fix; however, my Dad always reminded me, “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” This is where I learned that I will come across multiple situations that I may fail or think it’s impossible to complete in life, but you always have to get back up and reassess how you can improve.

– KO

Works Cited:

Langley. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/langley#:~:text=Langley%2C%20BC%2C%20incorporated%20as%20a,a%20separate%20municipality%20in%201955.

Ocean Home magazine, Gale, N., Springer, B., & Gutierrez, R. (2018, June 14). 10 good reasons to build your own home. Retrieved February 11, 2021, from https://www.oceanhomemag.com/outdoor-living/10-good-reasons-to-build-your-own-home/