Shared ‘homes’

Stories – Reading all my fellow classmates’ blogs got me thinking, most of our ideas of home stemmed from a story or a form of storytelling. I think this is a telltale (pun fully intended) sign of the kind of power story-telling has. The ability to bring us back to a place where perhaps distant can become vivid and close again. Stories carry the notion that there is a lesson to be learnt, a moral to be understood and an experience to be felt, although of course, not always the case. However, in the way we remember home, we often gravitate towards stories of our past. Stories seem to have the ability to bring us back.

Laughter – When you walk into a room, one of the first things we can be pulled to is laughter. In our ideas of what home means to us, a lot of us, myself included, related it to a sense of happiness and joy, and laughter is a product of that. It isn’t always the belt out laughing until your cheeks hurt, but sometimes a gentle soft laugh to perfectly capture a moment. Home is a place of comfort, and the kind of transformative positive energy laughter can bring to a house is exactly what can capture a perfect moment at home.

 Family – “I hate you mom and dad!”, used oh too commonly and oh so untrue. I think even as children, when asked to draw our home or whatnot in crayon, we would be inclined to draw stick figures of our family holding our mutual stick hands. The sense of belonging, love and care that our family gives us is crucial in our construction of home. Even with disputes and arguments, family can have a positive effect in how we feel in wherever we are. The other thing is family can be a mobile sense of home for many people; a hotel room in some exotic land becoming a “home” just because you are all there together.

Strength – We all have our difficulties, but everything is made easier with a support system. Home is a place that can often give this to people; a strength at time of weakness. Whether it’s feeling comfortable in your room, or in the embrace of your family at home, home seems to be a geographical place that people can return to seek support, guidance and strength. And even when you’re not physically present in your home, it seems to me there’s a way that people can mentally return to a sense of home, a place of refuge, to gather the kind of strength to carry on with our life’s tribulations.

In closing…

Things change, and people change. One of the most interesting things to me is how a home can change, transform, mutate, come in countless forms, and of course, evolve. What was once your home could be the home to a new loving family? What was once your home could be the home to your very own loving family? In whatever form home may be to you, car house tent or whatever, more so than not, can make you you.

Works Cited

Funk, Caitlin. “Home Is Where the Laughter Is.” Web log post. Timbits and Ketchup Chips: Discussing Canada. N.p., 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2015. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/funkythoughtsengl470a/2015/01/30/home-is-where-the-laughter-is/>.

Hodgson, Charlotte. “This Is My Home, Piece by Piece.” Weblog post. From Far and Wide. N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2015. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/charlottehodgson/2015/01/29/2-1-this-is-my-home-piece-by-piece/>.

Ng, Florence. “Home Is a Pie Chart and a Couple of Memories.” Web log post. Maple Trees and Beaver Tails. N.p., 31 Jan. 2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2015. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/florenceng/2015/01/31/45/>.