S/O childhood home

[Halftime Hope]

I went and looked at the first home dh and I bought, and the neighborhood has continued to go downhill. The house was on a beautiful lake, and our relative owned the house next door. We sold and moved to dh's family's area, and about a decade ago, the relative aged out of the home, so we helped them sell it. At the time, we considered keeping the home in the family as a rental, but several homes at the end of the street were being used as work crew housing, so we sold. In the last decade, our house and the relative's house have both been turned into laborer housing, and this in spite of them being beautiful lakefront yards. The front yards have been stripped bare and are worn down to dirt or gravel. Our house has a couple of interior photos, and it's been converted to a 6 or 7 BR, 1500 s.f. house. What a shame.

[Wheres Toto]

I live very close to everywhere I've lived except 3 semesters of college so I could visit any of those places easily.  I never have.

Before 5 years old, we lived in a few places that I have no recollection of.  I know we lived with extended family at one point but I don't know if there were three or or different homes during that time.

An apartment for 1/2 of kindergarten but I don't know when we moved into it.

Apartment we moved into in March of my kindergarten year, we lived there until after I graduated high school.

Four different dorm rooms for my 3 semesters of college.  

House mom and stepdad bought when they got married and moved while I was out of state at college.  I lived there on breaks (only came home for Christmas and summer), and for a year after I came home.  Never felt like home, maybe because they moved while I was away. 

House with exH and his brother, owned by ex-MIL, lived there for 6 years. 

House bought with exH, lived there for 6 years.

Lived with mom and stepdad (different house from other house) when separated from ex for 6 months.

Tiny house with dd after divorce, for 6 months.

House share with another single mom, for 6 months.

Apartment, for 6 months.

Moved in with dh, have lived here for 19 years. 

My younger kids have always lived here and have no desire to move or change anything.

Oldest dd mainly remembers the house I bought with her dad that he still lives in, and my current house with dh.   She has her own apartment now. 

[Corraleno]

6 minutes ago, maize said:

For those of you who don't count college apartments/dorms is it because you didn't consider that home?

I count my college apartments because that was the only home I had at that time. I don't count the places my parents moved to while I was in college as "home" because I only experienced those as places to visit, not places I lived. I definitely lived in my school apartments. I could see it feeling different if you saw school more as a place you just stayed for awhile while viewing your family home as still where you actually lived. I guess how settled your life was in general would also make a difference--some of the homes my family occupied during my childhood were home for a shorter period of time than the number of months I spent in my college apartments.

I never stayed at either of my parents' houses once I left for college, so it's not like those were "home" for me either, but I also didn't count dorms or summer break places because they were very temporary and I just had clothes and books, not much else. I was mostly in dorms for 4 years, except for a semester abroad when I was in a sort of boarding house, and I spent one summer in dorms, one traveling, one in a sublet (with no AC in FL!), and one with my then-boyfriend, so I never considered those as "home," either. 

I guess I was "homeless" in the sense of not having any sort of base that I could always come back to, where I could keep my stuff. I can't imagine doing that now, but it was fine in my teens and early 20s — although it's not like I really had a choice (staying with family was not an option), so I needed to make the best of it anyway.

[maize]

9 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I never stayed at either of my parents' houses once I left for college, so it's not like those were "home" for me either, but I also didn't count dorms or summer break places because they were very temporary and I just had clothes and books, not much else. I was mostly in dorms for 4 years, except for a semester abroad when I was in a sort of boarding house, and I spent one summer in dorms, one traveling, one in a sublet (with no AC in FL!), and one with my then-boyfriend, so I never considered those as "home," either. 

I guess I was "homeless" in the sense of not having any sort of base that I could always come back to, where I could keep my stuff. I can't imagine doing that now, but it was fine in my teens and early 20s — although it's not like I really had a choice (staying with family was not an option), so I needed to make the best of it anyway.

Interesting perspective.

I did always live in apartment housing in college, and the only stuff I had was what was with me. My parents were hardly going to move boxes of stuff from continent to continent for me. I just didn't own much.

Home had to be wherever I was.

 

[Faith-manor]

10. 10 different places. So I tend not to feel sentimental about houses.

[TexasProud]

I guess I have lived in a lot of places, but there are two that I am sentimental about.  I know my parents moved around A LOT before they bought the house that I consider my childhood home when I was 6.  I LOVED that neighborhood. The subdivision was like a small town. We lived there until I was 16. I was so mad, though I understood.  But moving my junior year of high school to a big town 5 hours away sucked.  But that childhood home. Yes, I have very fond memories and a sentimental attachment.  We moved when the oil crashed in the 80's and so it took over a year for our house to sell, so my junior year we spent most weekends driving back to mow the lawn or do other stuff to the house. 

We only lived in the house in Arlington for 2 years, and I tried to find it once when I was at mom's and I couldn't even remember which one it was. My parents divorced when I was in college and my mom lived in a series of apartments.

My husband and I lived in several apartments and then bought a small house in residency, sold it and bought another small house when he started practice here, but then we bought the house we are in and the other one that I have a sentimental attachment to.  We have lived in this house for 26 years and plan to stay here until we die or have to go to a nursing home.  So yeah. I love this house.

I also have a sentimental attachment to one of my grandparents' houses. They built it in the 40's and lived there until they died. I also love the my MIL's house. The moved and built the house when we got engaged.  I even picked out a few of the additions like cabinets in our bathroom. (It only had cabinets under the sink, and I suggested they put some in over the toilet, which they did.) I do think my MIL should probably move, but she won't. She will die here and it is super nice on holidays like these.  There are 12 people in this house this week and we are not crowded. I will be sad when this house is gone. 

[Hannah]

Age 0-1) Grandmother's house

Age 1-4) Parent's first home

Age 4-6) Caravan in my uncle's back yard while my parents were building our home.

Age 6-18) Parent's Family home

Age 18 - 24) 8 student flats and dorms.  My mother passed away in my first year of university and my father remarried a year later.  She moved into his house and made me feel very unwelcome. It was no longer 'home' to me.

25-26) Two in two countries in Europe 

27) Commune

28-32) Flat with Dh

32)  Family home where we have been living since.  Our children have memories of only this house.

 So, that adds up to 17 homes in 7 cities, in three countries, 2 continents.  Excluding student housing, only 9.