Going Home Again
June 30, 2010
I’m going home next week. I am an adult. I have an adult daughter. And I’ve lived far from the land of my birth for three decades. But there’s something about returning to the place I grew up that always seems like going home.
My dad doesn’t live in my childhood house anymore; three years ago, after my mother’s death, he moved to a small apartment next door. I won’t be sleeping in my old room, but I’ll be right in the neighborhood, enjoying the same beautiful English countryside. I’ll walk across the same paths and fields where I played as a child. I’ll see people I’ve known all my life.
One thing I always find time for when I visit is a browse through the old photograph albums, going back to my parents’ wedding. I know I’m dating myself, but the ones from my early childhood are in black and white and there’s something so evocative about those snapshots: long forgotten birthday parties; our old black lab and my Jack Russell puppy; seaside vacations when the summer was always hot (not!); and OMG did we actually wear those clothes?
Do you still revisit your childhood home? What do you like to do when you go “home” again?
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Aemelia says: June 30, 2010 at 8:09 pm
I moved away from home when I was 18 and joined the Army…many moons ago! Now my husband and our 2 boys live about a 10hr drive from my hometown.
I love going back home. I get to see most of my family, esp. this time- I have a cousin getting married and my sister’s babyshower on my next trip in August.We usually get there about 2x a year. My sister and her family live in our childhood home, my Mom lives in the dream house she and my dad built shortly before his death last year, we usually stay with Mom.
I also love going back to the area I grew up in for all the memories and if I’m lucky I will run into a few of my high school friends.
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Miranda Neville says: June 30, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Hi Louisa: How cool that your mom is still in the same place 40 years later. I think there’s something wonderful about staying in the same house. But I don’t even like to redecorate, let alone move. Once it’s done it’s done and I can get on with living there.
I hope you get back to Suffolk one day. I had a great uncle who lived in that county but I’m not familiar with Kelsale.
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LouisaCornell says: June 30, 2010 at 11:40 am
I hope you have a lovely visit, Miranda! As an Air Force brat the concept of “home” is a bit different for me. We traveled all over the world until I turned twelve. At that point my parents bought a lovely home in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama and my Mom lives in that same house 40 years later. There is something comforting in knowing the address and phone number I memorized as a young girl is still where home is. All of our family holiday gatherings are there and we do spend quite a bit of time laughing at those old black and white photos too. The lovely thing is that all of our friends from school and childhood know where to find Mom and through her, us.
The one childhood home the three of us would love to see again is the lovely cottage in Kelsale in Suffolk where we spent three of the happiest years of our childhood. We are still in touch with many of our friends there in spite of the fact we have not seen them in 40 years. I would love to visit that little village because I know very little has changed. There is comfort in that as well.
Amy Valentini says: June 30, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Miranda, have a wonderful and safe trip home!!
I was a military brat so I have memories of many homes before the one that became the most permanent when my father retired from the Army. Believe it or not, my folks still live in that same house. They are both in their 80′s, Dad will turn 90 in Oct and Mom, 85 in just a few weeks. I can’t seem to blast them out of that house. It does hold a lot of memories of all us kids, grandkids and even great-grandkids and of course, all the various pets that lived there over the past 45 years. I’ve lost that ‘going home’ feeling since moving out so long ago because I visit there so much. Now that my folks are really getting up in years, I’m there way too much. I envy you your trip home for you can see it fresh every time while the memories give you comfort and keep it home. Have a great time and we’ll look for you when you return. : )