Local women and children share their concepts of home.
I am fortunate enough to have not one, not two, but three homes! Yes, you read that right. While not all of these are actual houses, they are places where I have grown up, built my own identity or have a connection to. Dubai will always be number one on that list because it’s where I was born and raised for the first (and possibly best) 15 years of my life. But India is where I am native to, so by default that will forever be my native country. However, I moved to the U.S. for higher education four years ago and found another home in Cape Girardeau. Safe to say, I will never be able to be in any of these three homes without missing the others because they have all had a role in shaping who I am today.
– Ruchika, 23
No matter where I live, home will always be my hometown.
– Elizabeth, 35
During my college years, home had always been where I grew up. Not until I bought my first couch for my new apartment did it began to feel like my home.
– Katelyn, 28
My home is my childhood home. Even after 25 years of marriage, our house is still just a house to me.
– Jodi, 48
Definitely my parents’ house where I grew up. They’ve sold it and don’t live there anymore, but every childhood pet I have is buried in the backyard and every good memory from my childhood is still there.
– Andrea, 43
I would always consider home where I am currently. But my husband has always called his parents’ home ‘his home.’ He’ll say he is going to call home and I’ll say, ‘Wait, you are home.’ But I think it was the quality of his family. He always had a spot to call home and mine was just a little different than that. And now that my parents are divorced, we don’t have a place to call home or what I feel like is the unification of my family, which is kind of interesting. Also as a mother now, I hope my son will always refer to our current family place as home, too. He will have his own family home, but I hope he will say that he stops by his original home often, too.”
– Jeanne, 37
I think home is a place where I live with my mommy, da-da, and my beagle, Dunn, who is the cutest dog ever.
– Alex, 8
“Whether it was growing up in Old Appleton, Missouri, or Leopold, Missouri, where I live now, home is wherever my family is. A place of unconditional love. No matter what you do — good, bad or otherwise — you are always loved. Home to me is also a place of peacefulness and comfort. I know all families didn’t have that, but I was lucky enough to. I feel like having that can make or break you.”
– Kristi, 57
