Home(s)

I've been thinking lately about the different places that I've called home in my life.  Places I've lived since I was 5 are the places that have the most memories in them (obviously).  Paraguay is special to me in a different way, but it doesn't really come to mind in the same category as other places I've called home.  But isn't it interesting how living in a place for a time just etches it into your mind and heart and it's sometimes hard to let go? 

H.B. - I spent my entire elementary and high school years in HB.  All my childhood memories are from there.  I graduated high school there.  I was proposed to there.  I was married there.  My parents and grandma and some uncles/aunt/cousins still live there.  HB will always be home to me in one way or another!  I don't look forward to the day when I have no reason to go back there...

H-burn - While this place does have wonderful memories for me (Bible college, meeting Nathan, dating Nathan, being engaged to Nathan, bringing our first child home to H-burn), it's always been a transitory place and therefore has a bit of a different feel to me.  I was never settled there.  I never let my roots go down deep because I always knew that I would be leaving before long.  I've lived in H-burn a total of about 22 months over the span of about 7 years, but those months were split up over 3 different periods of time.  Hepburn has always been a place about looking ahead to what's next, though obviously still enjoying the present.

A-town - The first place Nathan and I lived after being married (besides our 3 month stay at camp!) was A-town!  It was the place we had our first apartment, the place we bought our first house, the place both of us had our first "real" jobs.  It was the place where we made the transition from kids to adults...and what an interesting transition that was!  haha.  Oh boy.  A-town attracted us because it was far from parents and gave us a good opportunity to solidify our marriage by being on our own without a parental "safety net," so to speak.  I'd say that was a good decision on our part, but after a few years, we were really wishing that we were a bit closer to family when it came to holidays, especially since A-town is so family-oriented - something I appreciate very much about it.  A-town is where we thought we would start our family, where we dreamed of bringing our first child home to.  A-town is where we got our first dog and where we thought our kids would one day go to school.  We made friends there, we were involved in a church there, we worked there and played there and put down roots there.  It truly became home over the 4 years that we were there and it still feels like home when we drive through.

California! - While we knew we were only in California for a short time and, in the same way as H-burn, it was a transient place for us, it became home and stole my heart in a completely different way than H-burn did.  Maybe it had something to do with the people we met there and the community in which we lived.  Maybe it was because we were so far from the Canadian border that we had to make ourselves at home for fear of being incredibly homesick if we didn't.  Whatever it was, I find my mind and heart being drawn back to that place alot these days.  Smells on the street here take me back to the Vallarta across the street from where we lived.  The cool but warming-up mornings this spring remind me of the winter/spring weather down there in January/February.  And while the people we met there are now spread across Canada/the USA, I still find myself wanting to road trip down there and spend some time in that place that became home for those 9 months that we were there.  Plus, that's the place Levi started his life, where we thought we lost him, and where we got almost weekly glimpses of our growing baby via ultrasound.  That alone made it a special place :)

W-town - And now we live in this place and it's exactly what we prayed for and already it's special.  It's a small town in the province where we wanted to be.  Great church.  Wonderful people.  We love it here and already we're dreaming of Levi going to school here, hopefully bringing a few more children home to this place, and maybe, just maybe, having our children graduate here!  That's a bit of a long shot, but we hope that we are here to stay and already, after only 8 months, we have so many great memories in this place. 

Which of your homes is the most special or memorable to you?  Which was most transient?  Which was your least favourite?  Homes are interesting things, no?