Geographically speaking, my home is located in Portland, Oregon. Known for food carts, sensitive bearded hipsters, and bike lanes, it’s not a bad place to call home. It’s fairly clean and safe, as far as U.S. cities go. Oregon is the only state that has no restrictions on women’s reproductive rights. Modern Portland is a hub for progressive thinkers and political activists. Interestingly, it is also the whitest city in America.

When I am homesick, Portland can become a magical paradise land in my mind. I remember my Omi’s (German grandma) special cheese toast sandwich that she makes for me in her ancient toaster.

I think about my friend and I driving (a bit too fast) through the windy roads of our neighbourhood, blasting Lana Del Rey out the window of her mom’s minivan.

Of course I can’t forget my cat, Inky, waking me up in the morning with his cold nose.

Or our decorated Christmas tree, weighed down with ornaments that have accumulated over the years.

Thinking about it, maybe Portland, the city, is just a backdrop. The real actors in my fantasies of home are people and memories. Emotionally speaking, my home is located in the things that bring me comfort.

Sometimes I think about my ancestors and how my family made it to Portland. My Omi was born in Hamburg, Germany, a large port city in the northern part of the country. Her dad was a painter. He never sold any paintings, so her mom had to work as a cook to provide for their nine children. My grandma had to drop out of school when she was 14 so that she could work to help support the family. When WWII started, things got even tighter financially. My grandma has told me that she was once so hungry, that she dug in the ground to find potato roots for dinner. Their household was often awoken late in the night, by piercing air raid sirens. The family would struggle through cold darkness to find safety in the bunkers.

My Omi likes to tell me stories about her childhood and let me know that I have it pretty good. I tell her that she’s never had to deal with having no one like your Instagram photo or not being invited to a friend’s Facebook Event. She laughs and tells me to listen to Mozart when I’m sad.

Perhaps my sense of home can be encapsulated into moments like these.

Works Cited

“Hamburg is maritime heritage.” Lonely Planet, https://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/hamburg. Accessed 28 Sept. 2016.

Del Rey, Lana. “Video Games.” YouTube, uploaded by Lana Del Rey VEVO, 16 Oct. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE6wxDqdOV0.

Semuels, Alana. “The Racist History of Portland, the Whitest City in America.” The Atlantic, 22 July 2016, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2016.

Uber, Tina. Laughing with Omi. 2012, digital photograph.