Do you reach a point where nowhere is home anymore? (truck, address)

[Ringo1]

Wow ~ this thread really spoke to me. I was an Army brat and mostly grew up in various places in AL. Returned to WV when I was in high school; left for college; returned again; left again . . . you get the picture.

But I always considered WV my home because my family was there. Now my Mom is dead and my Father moved with us . . so when I go 'home' . . . I don't even have a place to stay! My extended family is still there and sometimes I really miss them. A few days at 'home' is usually the cure for that!

But where I am now . . . . is this 'home'? I don't know. I like it here most of the time but . . . can't say I'll be here forever.

Wondering where my son will consider 'home'. He moved here his sophomore year in HS but still has strong ties in WV and close friends.

Wishing the best to all of us wandering spirits . . I guess home is wherever we are.

[Lincolnian]

In my case I didn't wander all that far. It's just that the rest of my familiy and friends did. Most of my cousins miss the feeling of home as well. Whenever we get together we ask why we couldn't live the lives of our parents and grandparents? Most moved because their jobs moved or any advancemt in their field required it. Most of my cousins really didn't want to be so far from home but that's not the way the world is constructed any more.

It's tough because some of my cousins have children with special needs and they don't have the support of family and friends nearby to help with their feeling of isolation.

[Alaskan Mutt]

Even though I have lived in the same town for the past 25 years, I have never considered it as my home. But then I have no feelings for any of the towns I have lived in. I think part of my problem is that since being on my own every move from one town to another I have made was out of desperation to survive. Moving to a town to accept a part time job at minimum wage never gave me the warm fuzzing feeling that I was home.

As much as I enjoy Alaska I think it is time for me to move on. Now that I have a good paying job that allows me to pretty much live anywhere in the U.S. I desire, perhaps moving somewhere because I want to will make the difference.

[goldengrain]

When I was a kid my parents moved a lot. My father was handy and I guess we lived in houses and flipped them, but there was no word for it then. We just made money by the increasing property values at the time and fixing up a house, selling it, and moving to something a little bit better.

Because of all the moves, I never felt rooted to a place. I lost a lot of friends, so make friends fairly easily and do not feel a lot of remorse in parting.

I went back to some of the places of my childhood but they all looked so small and somehow empty. I think much of this missing places type of thinking is some mental fiction we play on ourselves.

[gentlearts]

I moved away from family at 18. I raised my own family 600 miles away. Of course, I made new roots and made friends along the way, who I still keep in touch with, even though I have moved and they have also.
Lately, I have moved to the deep south, but before that to NE Ohio. The point is, it doesn't matter. IF you can stay in the same area as the others you were raised with, and your parents before that, you will be richer for it.
I work with a woman who was born and raised here, and I'm a little jealous that every other person who walks into the building is someone who she either went to school with, or lived in the same neighborhood as, or knows their relative, etc. That is a feeling I will never have.
So, for the OP, you must tend your friends and family like a flock. My DH complains that "nobody emails him", but that's because he never emails anyone. You reep what you sow. Home is only where people who care for you are, and you must care back, and make the effort.

[tigre79]

I've felt the same way at times. I moved several times growing up, then moved across the country at 19, moved back home, then to another part of the state, then across the country again. It was nomadic, but not bad. I had fun even though nowhere was really right. Two years ago my dad died, my brother moved to Japan, I moved across the continent, and then my mom moved to South America. I'm not really close to extended family and don't have many friends anymore in my hometown, so there's not much reason to go visit again, except that I miss it sometimes. It's home, but it's still not right for me for a lot of reasons, so I'll never live there again. But this new place could become home. It's seeming more like it every day.

[AnywhereElse]

Gosh, I saw the title of the thread and thought I was sleeping walking or computing last night! I have moved a lot over the last almost 40 years of my life and no where seems like home. Have considered going back to my birthplace but only a brother and a couple cousins live there and everyone from school has moved away. Right now, I live in the worst place I have ever lived! I am considering full-time rving as we did that for a short time and it was great as there was a sense of community to those that really were not "attached" and many were using that to find their "home" if it existed. Places change so quickly now that it can be great today and change tomorrow. I never want to feel trapped again like I have felt for the last 5 years. Good thread and I have enjoyed reading all the responses.

[loveautumn]

WOW, so glad I stumbled upon this thread...I thought I was the only one out there! I have always had a wandering spirit, never really content no matter where I lived, no place has ever really felt like "home". I am attached to the residence where I live now, but not the city or state. Maybe some of us just have wanderlust in our DNA. I thought of where I grew up as home for lack of anyplace else, but my parents are both gone now and I'm not really close to my other relatives. But the last time I was there I didn't feel that way at all. Now that I am researching places to retire, this has become the central point for me and have had to do alot of soul searching, to be somewhere that I feel is really home...to go check out a place and have that "aha" moment where I say, this is it! So far, hasn't happened, but I am still hopeful! Sometimes I feel like a cameleon that could blend in anywhere and sometimes I feel like I wouldn't fit in anywhere...fortunately I am pretty content with "being me" so that helps.

[Upstate Nancy]

The whole topic of what constitutes "home" is very interesting to me. What does make a place a home and just what is home? Is it inside yourself regardless of where you go or do people need a place where they "fit" in with the group? Same values, same upbringings, same accents? Why does "home" change or where you belong/fit in change? And, it can change again and again, too.

[Djuna]

I can relate to this.

I grew up in New Zealand, lived there my entire life then moved to Australia when I was 40. I have been here in the US for 4 years now. I went back to NZ 2 years ago for a funeral and it wasn't my home anymore. All the places I was familiar with felt foreign. Now I feel disenfranchised. Nowhere feels like home to me, I have no sense of belonging in any country. It's such a weird feeling. I feel like a gypsy.