What home has been most meaningful to you?

[LazyDazy]

Of all the places you have lived which one felt most like home? The place you would choose to be forever if you could? Why? What made it so meaningful to you?

[FaithManor]

This is our forever home and it is the place that feels like it too. It is a 100 year old brick and stone church that we've renovated into our home. We kept the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, wood floors, and antique changeliers that were converted to electric. My sibs and I were baptized here, my parents, aunts, and uncles were married here, and even funerals for close relatives were held here. The church family eventually failed financially and could not hold the building and property anymore. We bought it for a pittance, and through Dh's blood sweat and tears, some of my sweat, and a bunch of my dad's...it has become home.

 

Faith

[mcconnellboys]

This home is the one where both our boys have pretty much grown up and they are pretty firmly ensconced in this neighborhood, so this is home at least for now. I would like at some point in the future, however, to have a house on a larger piece of land....

[GWOB]

When I go to my Grandma's house, I feel at home. As a child, I lived in a number of houses. We moved to another state for 5 years and lived in three different places. We lost our last house because of bankruptcy. When we moved back to Louisiana, we lived in 2 different rentals. Then I joined the Navy. During the 10 years in the Navy, dh and I lived in 6 different houses. We have currently lived in this house for almost 3 years. Add 4 houses before I was 7 and I have lived in a total of 15 houses. The only constant house was my Grandma's. It still is. It seems as though every time I go home to visit my parents they are in a different house. Once they were even living at my Grandma's. My parents are less than consistent, but Grandma (Maw Maw, said with a Cajun French accent) is always constant. I don't live in the house where my children were born. Heck, I don't even live in the same state where my children were born! I'm not particularly fond of this house ( or state even). I could easily leave this place without any reservations. But, if I ever go home to LA and am not able to go to Maw Maw's house, I will be completely devestated.

[Parrothead]

None of them yet. I've never lived in one house longer than 5 years.

[LazyDazy]

We can't decide if it is because we are in an apartment or because we miss our home state. We built 2 houses here and neither one ever felt like home. Our "home" was a tiny, old fixer in our hometown. We hardly fit in the house but, it was so comfy and cozy. We were only there for a few years (less than either house we built).

[hsbaby]

Growing up, it was the first house I remember. We lived there from the time I was about 2 until I was 7. I lived in our next house practically until I was married, but it never felt like "home". As for my "married" home, our current feels most like home to me. This is our third house. We've lived here the longest and have already made wonderful memories here. I have no desire to move:)

[DawnM]

Probably the first house we bought as a married couple. I still think about that house and wish we hadn't moved from it. We could have had it paid off by now and could be living where I would still like to be living in SoCal.

 

As a child I moved too many times to consider anything really "home." However, there is a part of me that has shut that out too, where I grew up has no place for me now (overseas in the bush)....so I have had to create my own home in my adult life.

 

Dawn

Edited January 29, 2011 by DawnM

[Classical Country Mama]

I'm 37, and I counted it up once--I have moved over 30 times in my life (my parents were missionaries. I know some of you military "brats" can top that!!). As a third culture kid, I can't imagine feeling any sort of real connection to a building. Even though I live in the U.S. now, my passport country, I'm most at "home" in groups of foreign nationals and people speaking something other than English. :D

 

That said--I have very fond memories of the tin-roofed house built into a riverbank in the little village I grew up in. Rain clattering on our roof shook the house like thunder (I still love thunderstorms!). Sometimes a coconut would drop on the roof in the middle of the night, and we'd shriek and fall out of bed, and then laugh ourselves silly. We had screen doors that were never locked, a giant hammock on the front porch, an iguana named Fred in the attic, and a basement room that was always filled with guests (including, one time, honeymooners).

 

That village, even though it no longer exists today, will always remain the home of my heart.

[kalanamak]

Of all the places you have lived which one felt most like home? The place you would choose to be forever if you could? Why? What made it so meaningful to you?

 

The house I'm selling right now is my "forever home". I loved it the moment I saw it, cedar log, view of the mountains, a pond, next to a big park. Just lovely. But....too big for our family, too much for me to maintain and work full time, commute and homeschool.

 

It smelled so good, and at night, when the temp was falling, it would give a little "crack" now and then. The rain on the metal roof was soothing. With the wood stove on, I could look out the sky light and see the smoke wafting past the moon and the stars.

 

Not that I tell anyone IRL (it is boring to hear other peoples deprivations :001_smile:), but it is just one more thing I've given up to homeschool.

[KristinaBreece]

We currently live in the house that I grew up in, which is also the house my mother grew up in, and the house my grandmother grew up in. My grandfather was going to sell it after she passed, but pretty much let us have it instead. I love this place.

[Night Elf]

None of them yet. I've lived in 5 houses and 4 apartments. Maybe it's because I've moved so much in 43 years? I guess I just feel at home with my family wherever we are. Sorry, I didn't intend that to be sappy. I just wish I did feel like I had a "forever" home. I'm looking forward to moving out of this house which isn't likely to happen anytime within the next 5 years thanks to the economy.

[elegantlion]

The home we just moved to feels like the forever house. Typically we move about every 5 years and it's too soon to tell, but this house is different. It's a bungalow, similar to one we used to live in, but this one has everything we wanted in the other house but couldn't afford to do. It also has the original charm. It's also the first house my dh has been remodel almost completely before we moved into it. I've waited years to see my dh's handiwork through all the rooms in my home.

 

We all adore this house. We've only been here since December but we all keep saying how much this house feels like home. My ds has a dormer room, huge, for his bedroom. It's very cool.

 

We tend to like to wander, but this home has the potential to be a forever place. I've never felt so strongly about any other place we've lived in.

[Kathleen in VA]

This house is my forever house. We moved from a tiny townhouse 20 years ago bringing two little boys with us. I've brought three more babies home to this house. I haven't always felt like this - I've often wanted to move to a bigger house. But now it seems like I've finally got it decorated the way I like it and it has a warm, cozy glow about it - especially at night. I can imagine my grandchildren visiting here and thinking it's cozy, too.

[milovany]

The one we're in now! We bought it last year, and it's the first house we've lived in that doesn't have me wondering/thinking about the "next place." This IS the next place; we plan on staying here, Lord willing, many years. This is where we want the grandkids to come spend time with us. We bought in our college town, a place we've both loved living. There were certain things I wanted in our "forever home," and many of them we have here, including some acreage so the kids can have animals and a large garden, some established fruit trees, a creek, different types of outdoor spaces in different areas (hard to explain, but not big expanse of lawn in the front yard, and big expanse of lawn in the backyard), not too far from town, in an established area not a newly developed one, nice neighbors, etc. LOVE it, thank you Lord.

Edited January 29, 2011 by milovaný

[Renee in NC]

The home we lost to foreclosure. :crying:

 

Recently, I received a card from a neighbor there - it was a picture looking down the road from her house because it had snowed. In the background, you could see the edge of our pond. Well, someone else's pond now. :crying:

 

The boys want to go visit one of the neighbors there, but I don't know if I can do it. You have to pass right by our old place to get to his house.

[Audrey]

Of all the places you have lived which one felt most like home? The place you would choose to be forever if you could? Why? What made it so meaningful to you?

 

 

Where I am now. It is the farmhouse where my husband, his father and his grandfather were born and raised and that his great-grandfather built. I grew up with a (US) Navy dad and moved a lot. I never felt not at home, though. It was always home because of my mother. She was just a very homey wonderful person, and made every place a real home.

 

She died several years before I met dh. It was a wild decision to elope and move here. I had never met his family before, but the day we pulled up at the farmhouse, his mother came out and held her arms out to me and held me like I hadn't been held in years. I knew I was home. It felt just like mom. And, a little part of me knew it was.

 

Dh's mom passed away when our son was not quite 2 years old, and after his father remarried, we moved into the farmhouse (we were living in the cabin on the farm previously). I do my best to keep it a homey home in the spirit of my own mom and my second mom.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Audrey

[GWOB]

Where I am now. It is the farmhouse where my husband, his father and his grandfather were born and raised and that his great-grandfather built. I grew up with a (US) Navy dad and moved a lot. It was always home because of my mother. She was just a very homey wonderful person, and made every place a real home.

 

She died several years before I met dh. It was a wild decision to elope and move here. I had never met his family before, but the day we pulled up at the farmhouse, his mother came out and held her arms out to me and held me like I hadn't been held in years. I knew I was home. It felt just like mom. And, a little part of me knew it was.

 

Dh's mom passed away when our son was not quite 2 years old, and after his father remarried, we moved into the farmhouse (we were living in the cabin on the farm previously). I do my best to keep it a homey home in the spirit of my own mom and my second mom.

 

:crying: Dh's dad house is small, out of the way, not properly heated, and inconvenient, but if dh asked me to move there, I'd go in a heartbeat.

[Pam Wilhelm]

I used to think that my GA (foreclosed) house was my "forever" home. I loved tat house and it will always be a wonderful memory. I truly hope the new family that is in it now fully appreciates all the love and work we put into it.

 

My forever home is now the home we are in now....It is a bit bigger than my GA home and has everything we need. It is the same age as our GA home.... and has just enough work that needs to be done to it to make it fun and interesting to live here without being overwhelming. I love the town! I love the house! I love MN! For us...given our income and family size....it is perfect! (I wish I could keep chickens, though).

[kwickimom]

I LOVED my childhood home the most :) I was 25 when my parents left it and it still makes me sad. That is where some of my best (and worst) memories are. They moved next to my grams, in another state, and it just isnt the same.

 

Since I have been married we have lived in 3 different houses and I have hated them all. Actually, its not the house as much as the town. I hate living here and so I will never like a house here. I wouldnt shed a single tear if we up and left this house.

[lynn]

I loved my childhood house. Love it. It was small by todays standards and I don't know how 1 bathroom with 7 people 4 being girls 5 including mother would have worked if we had stayed. Sadly we moved when I was 12 and nothing has ever felt the same. It was the most perfect neighborhood to grow up in. I have reconnected with many of the kids who grew up there and a there are a few that live in their parents homes:glare::glare: lucky them. I have tried to convince dh to transfer just so I could live in that same neighborhood. One of the 100 year old victorians went up forsale recently it was my absolute dream house, loved going over there and visiting when I was little. Who cares if it had 1 bathroom on the second floor. It would have made me so very happy.

 

Now as far as where I have lived as an adult. I loved my GA house it was perfect for us white with green shutters it only lacked the white picket fence. MyTucson houses were fun and homey to live in also. Oh yeah then there was our very first house it was so pretty, it was where I brought my 2 first babies home to.

[KidsHappen]

The one we live in right now. We own it, we love it and I don't see us leaving until at least the last child has left home and then the only reason we would move is because I really need a one story floor already and ours is not.

[milovany]

(I wish I could keep chickens, though).

 

Work to get the ordinance changed (if there is one)! We went before our city council, along with others, and presented a good case for why chickens in the city are a good thing. Got it passed! Can have 4 now in the city limits (no roosters).

[akmommy]

The house that has always felt most like going home was my grandparents. Until my grandfather died it was the one thing that remained constant in my life. We never lived in one house more then a 3 or 4 years growing up and then my parents divorced and remarried and neither of their houses ever felt like home. But my grandparents house was always there warm and waiting. The breakfast bar: I loved that breakfast bar, it was the hub of the house and so many good memories took place there.

 

After grandpa died grandma had the house remodeled and took out the breakfast bar. It was all I could do not to burst into tears the first time I walked in the house and it was missing.

[Kathleen in VA]

Where I am now. It is the farmhouse where my husband, his father and his grandfather were born and raised and that his great-grandfather built. I grew up with a (US) Navy dad and moved a lot. I never felt not at home, though. It was always home because of my mother. She was just a very homey wonderful person, and made every place a real home.

 

She died several years before I met dh. It was a wild decision to elope and move here. I had never met his family before, but the day we pulled up at the farmhouse, his mother came out and held her arms out to me and held me like I hadn't been held in years. I knew I was home. It felt just like mom. And, a little part of me knew it was.

 

Dh's mom passed away when our son was not quite 2 years old, and after his father remarried, we moved into the farmhouse (we were living in the cabin on the farm previously). I do my best to keep it a homey home in the spirit of my own mom and my second mom.

 

Audrey, this is such a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it.:)