Nostalgia

It's been a year since I moved out of home and into the St Leonards pad. Just this Easter, I had to swing by the family house at West Pennant Hills to pick up some stuff. No-one was home during this time (parents had gone away), and I went into my room to grab my bag. And then it hit me, just scanning the room...that it's been a long long time since I've slept in that bed.

My parents had cleaned up the room, but all my stuff was still there...all the postcards that I've stuck up on my door from my travels, the framed pictures that friends and family have given me, the rows and rows of science fiction books that I had collected...so many memories.

I often wonder how people would be able to constantly move from one place of abode to another. Would they feel less grounded? Does life become more transient? I hope that I will be able to create that same feeling of nostalgia in my St Leonards home. For now, it was just good to know that what was once a place (in those rebellious teen years) that was just a bed, has now become a place of smiles.

Damn! twelve cheap calls already:

I have been living out of 'home' for 4 years... and thus i understand ur feeling... and yeah... when u go 'home' it really feels like..... 'home' and u wonder if ur new 'home' will ever feel like its true and u think of all the memories u had and have and will have and now im just rambling...... i miss 'home'
Addy - 18 April '04 - 18:32

I often wonder about that. I've never lived anywhere else coz my parents moved in before I was born.. and we've been living here since.

I wonder if ppl who move around a lot - do they feel unsettled? Or do they try make each place feel like home? Because being completely relaxed at home is not quite the same as relaxing somewhere else..

Maybe if you put some butter on your paws and then sit down and groom yourself and clean off, then you'll feel completely at home. :P
milli - 19 April '04 - 09:13

Do you think it is something that can be measured? like you stay in a place for say 2 years then it will feel like home. Or is it a matter of your frame of mind - making a conscious effort to create a "home" for yourself like putting up pictures and buying crockery. And does it make a difference if you are renting as opposed to owning (or parent's owning)?
siksp - 19 April '04 - 17:04

It's definitely a frame of mind thing. I think you can get settled very quickly...the ownership factor is probably a big influence.
JookBoy (link) - 19 April '04 - 18:10

I think it takes some time...which is dependant on the individual...and i think when you own your own place that time shortens, and the more "homely" u make it, the time shortens further more.

During the period of adjusting, i think people oscillate between "it feels like home" to "where am i?" and this happens when you get comfy and furniture and utensils get used (homely feel). Or (for example), when something that you expect to be located in a certain place, but its not there and it throws you...that sorta thing makes u feel miserable and miss the "home" u knew from before...so ur oscillating from good to bad...but finally there will come a day and u will feel at home and that u belong where u are.
petals - 20 April '04 - 09:36

You know, you guys should try growing up in Blacktown and living off public transport for your teen life *GRiN* It sure doesn't feel like home to me. And I think there's no way in hell I could ever live with my parents again. Then again, Waverton doesn't quite feel like home either. It's definitely comfy, but I think the label "home" implies "settling" and "contentment". Not ready for that mortgage yet :P
reenie (email) - 21 April '04 - 07:29

Oscillating is a great word i don't use enough of.
I'm oscillating between saigon and sydney.
pissk - 21 April '04 - 13:01

I like it too...which is probably why i use it!
*^_^*
petals (link) - 22 April '04 - 05:47

I think home is where your heart is. (cheese if you please!)
goodlittlegirl (email) (link) - 22 April '04 - 14:32

I'm oscillating mentally between Singapore and Shanghai

You know, my Mum has one of them signs in the kitchen!
JookBoy (link) - 26 April '04 - 19:17

Must be sumthin about cities starting with S.
kissp - 27 April '04 - 13:01