From Songbird at RGBP:
I've got home on my mind: what it feels like, how we make it, what we carry from the past and how we separate other people's leftovers from objects that really reflect our identity. My family has had one home for the past 13 years, the longest I've ever lived anywhere. As the time when all the children are gone comes closer, I wonder where my next home will be?
So here are five questions about home.
1) Where was your first home?
It was on Neff Street in Sharpstown, a suburb of Houston. I don't remember it, and I wouldn't know he house if I saw it, because we moved from there when I was 18 months old. I've seen photos.
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In fact, here's a photo of it now...
View Larger Map whereas this is the house I grew up in. Also in Houston.
2) Do you ever dream about places you used to live?
Hmm. I don't know that I am, specifically, but I'm doing a lot of dreaming that I remember lately (this is uncommon for me) and I'm sure former homes show up. I am not taking the time to writ the dreams down, so they don't stay with me very long. Maybe I ought to consider this.
3) If you could bring back one person from your past to sit at your dinner table, who would you choose?
My Gramma Beth, my dad's mom. She died when I was 10 (and she was 88) and was sick for a few years before that, and I regret the fact that I didn't get to know her better.
4) What's your favorite room in your current living space?
My bedroom, which has the most comfortable reading location (the bed). As soon as The Sickness is over we are going to burn The Recliner of Doom and get a nice, two-person sofa/love seat for the front room. But for now, there are really no comfortable reading spaces in there.
5) Is there an object or an item where you live now that represents home? If not, can you think of one from your childhood?
Um...yes. In fact, every room of my house has something that represents home. That's what I do and who I am. Interesting implications for de-cluttering and for reducing my dependence on THINGS. But there you have it.
We are gathering photos and remembrances from family and friends for a memory book for my parents' Joint Big Birthday Party next weekend. (Dad will be 86 and Mom will be 80). I'm loving looking at the pictures folks are sending, and these that my sister Barbara sent are particularly exemplary of this:
...That's me, right there in the middle, looking over the back of my chair...
All the furniture in these photos from 1971 is in my dining room today. The gorgeous china closet with the curved glass; the buffet behind my mom in the second photo; the dining table and chairs that were made by my great-grandfather.
And then, in this beach picture from 1965:
(I'm in the high chair in this left corner...)
there's a wicker table in the far left corner (that you can't see) beyond my grandfather that Ken is currently using for all his potions and accoutrements as he gets better. It's a bit scarred and scratched but I love to see it there next to him...the continuity is a gift.
Looking forward to the weekend. This homebody is happiest there.
