Joe and I were in the car on our way to do some shopping when I mentioned that, even after living here for over 1.5 years, it still doesn't fee like home. Sure, the surroundings are familiar and I pretty much know my way around our slice of the island. But it just doesn't have that "homey" feeling.
That got me thinking... What makes a place feel "homey"? Is it the people, attitudes of the people, surroundings or an attachment to a certain place?
Since we've been married, we've lived in 3 different "houses" in 3 different states. We've been married for 3.5 years. Our first "house" was in NC, where we moved right after we got married.
It was cute, cozy and had a decent yard {which we only used once we got Jasper}. Our landlord lived about 50 yards in front of us, and on a private drive. It was nice and peaceful. We had an amazing church and had a great group of friends. We also lived about a mile from family and were able to spend lots of time with them, allowing me time to get to know my new family. We went through a lot there... I totaled my car within the first 2 months, we celebrated our first married Thanksgiving and Christmas, adopted Jasper, Joe lost his job, enlisted in the Army and went off to BCT and then AIT. See? A lot happened. And it was definitely home.
When Joe was in AIT, I moved to GA so we could actually see each other. We got a cute little apartment in town, not too far from the post. And apparently I don't have any decent photos of that little apartment. I guess I was a bad little blogger back then. =P Anyway, even though we only spent about 6 months there, I began to feel like it was home. It was only a 3.5 hour drive to see family in NC - a drive we made several times. We managed to find a church we liked pretty quickly, it was sort of a small town and I was able to find my way around after less than a month. I still don't understand how that place felt anything like home... We only lived there 6 months!
And then we moved here, to Hawaii. House number 3 in almost as many years.
As I said before, we've been here for over a year. Okay, well I have been here for over a year. Joe has been here for about 8 months total, thanks to deployment. I've made friends, found a couple favorite beaches, places to shop and know my way around. I don't know if it's that Hawaii is so completely different from the places we've lived before, the people are different, or that the culture is different...but it's not home. Our house, I guess you could say, is home... It's decorated the way I like, has all the things we need, and we're going to bring our baby here in a few months. But it's still not really home.
So what exactly is it that makes a place, home? I'm not sure... And I have to wonder if I'll feel this way about the other places we move while Joe is in the Army. Will they all feel strange? Will I ever be able to feel like we are "home" when we're not living near family?
I guess this is just another one of those military family conundrums.
Do you feel like where you live is "home?" Or are you having the same problem I am?
