Let me just get this part out of the way now: Yes. I did take pics of some of my cousin's children. Yes, the Amish are against having their pics taken (graven imagery). But some Amish (like many of my cousins) don't mind if the kids are in a pic once in a while because 1) they are not yet baptized and therefore held by a different standard. 2) because it is ME asking :)
Anyway...so back to the post. My aunt asked me if it felt good to "be home". I said, "yes". Then she said, "Well, you probably feel at home in UT though now. Since you lived there for so long by now." Actually, I had to correct her and tell her that Indiana still felt like home. I asked a few other friends, since they moved away from home, if they feel like they are home now or when they go back to visit? I was surprised at how many feel at home just because they are in the company of loved ones. Perhaps because things were not "settled" for me in my home for well over ten years... perhaps that is why I did not feel "at home".
And while it is true that I have loved ones here, there are only a handful compared to the number of people back home who love me and support me. I hope that one day, when I *do* feel settled (whenever that may be) then, I will feel at home.
So what about you? If you live somewhere far from where you grew up, do you feel at home now? What do you think makes someone feel "at home" in their current town or city?
And now, for your viewing pleasure... my cousins, when I went to visit back "home".
My uncle Leo makes his own rugs and then sells them...
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17 comments:
I've lived in the same state and general area my entire life so I can't say what "coming home" means as far as distance is concerned. But I think that "home" is the familiarity and coziness that you get when you're in a place that brings you so many good memories.
Love the pictures!! And your cousins are adorable!
OHMYGOSH! Those are the cutest little Amish girls I've ever seen! Ok, maybe the only onese I've ever seen but BOY, now they'll all be held up to this standard.
Those are some SUPER pics, Emma! You have such great photography skills!
Great pictures!
I think that feeling at home is when you feel comfortable. I feel like I have three homes because there were three different places where I felt like I could just breathe and be myself.
Nebraska is home. Virginia was definitely NOT home for us. I think I'd feel at home anywhere in the Mid-west though.
And how amazing you get to experience a whole other culture. What cutie pies, too! I've always wanted to visit with someone who was Amish, just to talk, you know, see if we have more in common than I'd think.
I have travelled far and seen much during my married life, and even before that, but I always made a point of coming "Home" at least twice a year. Now, after being widowed so young, I live at "Home" permanently. This will always be Home, and this is where I am really happy to be.
Beautiful photos of your cousins! They are so cute!
What great pictures!
For me, WX still feels like home!
I like the line from Karate Kid II where Daniel says, "Home is where you hang your hat." I feel at home here in Spanish Fork, but I wonder if it is because it kind of reminds me of being back home in Middlebury.
Wow, what a beautiful place and what beautiful cousins. I tend to feel at home as long as I have my own little space to keep the way I like it. Since our move I feel pretty much at home here.
Home where I grew up will always be very special, but I'm at home where I am. I try to be comfortable where I am.
I remember that "coming home" feeling when I was little. That feeling of pulling into the driveway feeling calm and secure. I yearn for the feeling now but never seem to feel it as I pull into our driveway. I think it's because coming home now means laundry and dishes and disciplining.
Those are great shots! I lived in Northwestern Wisconsin for 5 years but I had to come home to Milwaukee. No other place felt right.
fine, i'll shut up about the pictures! sheesh!
and now to your question: i've always felt comfortable in indiana. like living is effortless. i've lived out west for 7 years now. i feel very comfortable in nevada. i think it's just the people. i have some of my family here, most of my husband's family, and even an old family friend turned in-law. i feel very comfortable here. i have a great church group, so if i'm not with family i'm with them. i'm in such a different stage of life now than what i was in indiana that i wonder how i would feel if i lived there now. indiana's a nice place to visit, but i'll probably never live there again.
Emma! I didn't know you come from an Amish Family. That is the coolest thing I ever hear. I love the Amish. We vacation in Amish country (PA) like 4 times a year! Anyway....do you ever wish your family had stayed Amish so you would have been raised Amish? How did you end up in UT? Wow! I could ask you 10,000 questions but I wont.
anyway.....I still live where I grew up but my family all moved away. Except for my one Poppop (grandfather).
Ummm, Emma.. why are the people from Indiana called Amish?
I really want to google it, but i'd like to hear it from you..
These pictures are amazing! You really should do something professionally. You could sell those!!!! :)
I consider it home and I did not even grow up there
I am the opposite. I still live in the southern town in which I was born. Heck, I still live on the same side of town, even. To me this has always felt temporary and I feel tied with twine being here. (Just enough to be bothersome and stationary, you know?) My "home" however, where my heart is, where I dream of living, the nights I have to convince myself to go to sleep and I etch out every facet that memory brings to me in peace, is a small town (ideal in my mind) where my great-great grandfather settled up north. Some of his original property, bequethed to his sons, still remains in family hands. The property left to his daughter, whose branch I share, was passed from our family by my grandmother just a couple of years before he died. The original home, and all my childhood summer memories still remain in my heart and in that little town. Morbidly, but lovingly, my father bought the last few remaining burial plots on a cliff overlooking the old homestead for our family. So, in the final sleep for this ol' body, I'll be there, but rejoicing in heaven with the hearts of those who made it home.
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