Leaving Home
On the surface it was just like any other hot August day in Nashville,
but for me it was a day with mercurial-like emotions ranging from the
high of the excitement about my son's departure, to a mid-level of
nostalgia and memories, and finally to a low of sadness and emptiness.
My first born, my son, having reached 18 years of age was leaving
home. He was going to college. This particular morning Todd was very
much on my mind as I arose early to help him get packed and ready to
go. I was not expecting this to be an overly emotional day, yet the
memories overwhelmed me.
I remembered the first day his mother and I dropped him off at
kindergarten and how we too felt strange and overly concerned and sad;
I remembered his Bar Mitzvah when he stood before his family, friends,
and community at the tender age of thirteen and recited with
perfection his portion of our Holy Scripture, thereby entering Jewish
adulthood. Then too, I noted a lump in my throat and a tug at my
heart.
I remembered the times we spent alone and the times we shared with the
rest of the family, and I was very proud of him. Todd was my quiet,
gentle, sensitive, skeptical, shy, and intelligent, computer wizard
son. He had survived his mother's departure from our lives when he was
ten years old, and despite his shyness and lack of athletic prowess,
survived the rigors of adolescence.
I knew it was time to go. The car was packed and Todd was ready. It
was I who lingered and who was procrastinating. I wanted to have one
more conversation with my son, one more attempt to tell him all he'd
ever need to know about life and the real world. I wanted to prepare
him for college life, and try and help him avoid mistakes I had made
at that time in my life.
But as I sat at the edge of my bed and he on the edge of his chair
Home and house, two words that in essence are the same, but they hold vastly different meaning on a deeper level. A house as defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is “a building in which a family lives.” A home as defined by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is “the place (such as a house or apartment) where a person lives.” The two definitions are virtually identical in meaning and yet to people a house does not hold much emotion. A house has more of a solid entity while a home has an emotional connection. Toni Morrison’s novella Home, several of Nikky Finney’s poems from Head off and Split, and personal experience demonstrate the difference between a house and a home. Home may be an explicit building, a family, friends, or an entire town. I consider my home to be where my family is even if the building changes. My family is where I find comfort, safety, pride, love and belonging. The feeling of comfort or safety, pride, love and belonging are what creates a home. These characteristics of a home are what allow an individual to grow into the best possible version of them.
In “Calling Home”, by Jean Brandt and “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard, both girls are confronted with their sense of conscience and of right and wrong. In the process, both girls experience memorable lessons as a consequence of the decisions they make. In “Calling Home”, thirteen year old Jean realizes that her actions not only affect her but more importantly, her loved ones, when she is caught shoplifting and arrested during a Christmas shopping trip with her siblings and grandmother. In “An American Childhood”, seven year old Annie realizes that adults and their feelings are valid and that they can be just as vulnerable and full of tenacity as a child after she and her friend find themselves being chased by a man who is none too amused at being a target of their snowball throwing antics. In both stories, Annie and Jean are smug in their sense of power and control. Both girls exhibit a general lack of respect for authority by justifying their actions and displaying a false sense of entitlement to pursue and attain whatever they wish, as if ordinary rules do not apply to them.
I stat on my bed trying to assess a difference in my body and my mind to as if there were to be any clear and obvious indication that I was no longer a child. But the thing is, you cannot simply wake up on your fifteenth birthday and become an adult. Adulthood should not be marked by a person’s age, but rather by his/her mental maturity. In order to become an adult, one should be able to live a life where one is financially comfortable along with many other basic necessities of living a comfortable life. One should be able to learn from your mistakes, know his/her limits, and know that everything is great in moderation.
According to Joan Didion's essay "On Going Home", continuing changes in life makes it almost impossible to remove memories of one's past. Especially when one has been away from a previous home, which that person was raised, then return to that same home a number of years later. In a home which family and friends shared memories of events, news, gossip and situations, whether it be bad or good. Old artifacts and various family heirlooms in the home that stimulates a memory of those old times when used. Surrounding areas of that old home are remembered just as well also. Being in a new home makes the old memories even more missed. These may be the strongest influences in why memories are kept and remembered.
I moved to the house I now live in when I was three years old. I was so excited to move as this meant I was going to live closer to my grandpa. What I did not realize was what wonderful neighbors my family would have. Although the neighbors’ kids were all a lot older than my brother and me, they were always very nice and would play lots of different games with us. I thought this was so cool considering that they were all boys. The oldest boy, Jayson, had cerebral palsy. Jayson was 18 years old. He walked a little funny and talked a little funny, but he was so friendly.
“Agh but mom.” Alex grumbled, turned over in bed and slammed the pillow over his head.
Can you imagine living somewhere all your life, and then having a stranger tell you to move? What about having you home taken away from you because you live differently then others? Or even yet, can you imagine having someone move in next door to you, and you die from a sickness that they brought with them? Native Americans have lived this way since the days of Christopher Columbus. As they were shuffled around and pushed westward, the crowd followed, until there was nothing left for them.
The Middle of Somewhere stresses the important facts of racism and equal rights among human beings. This interesting and compelling story is about an African family who fought the government for what they believed was right. In the times of segregation, the white people pushed around the blacks. It was the few blacks that chose to stand up for themselves and fight back for what they believed in. “The middle of somewhere”. If spoken aloud, it makes you think. This must be a place where you call home. Somewhere where you feel safe and where everything around you is comfortable.
As teenagers, we tend to think that we don't need our parents help, but I must admit that it’s not easy living without either one by your side. For my second year of high school, I moved away from home and became a boarder at Bolles. At first, I was so overly excited to be away from home because I thought I was about to have all the freedom in the world. Well, soon enough I learned that I thought wrong. Of course, being in the dorm environment consisted of certain rules to ensure our safety and of course there were rules that the borders, including myself did and do not agree on. Over the past three years, I have observed that the boarder population feels like some rules are not made for our safety, but made to stop us from having a little
Clear memories of his mother brothers and sister goes through his head thousands of times for 25 years and then through searches for months he finally finds his real mother and family back in India, from where he was adopted from his Australian parents when he was five. This book “A long Way Home” is a memoir of Saroo Brierley, a man with a powerful story living the extremes. Saroo was 5 years old when he got separated from his older brother, one night while at a train station in rural India. Saroo's elder brother Guddu had left him sleeping on a seat at a Burhanpur train station, but didn’t return for a long time, Saroo (than known as Sheru) when woke up boarded a train in search of his brother, thinking that his brother might be scavenging
A home, many people spent their whole life in search of his or her home. It has many different definitions to different people. To some people it may be their home country, to some it may be where they were born, to some it may be where their family is. home's most basic trait is its ability to provide shelter from weather. Rain or snow, a house will always be there to shield the elements from the family. In the cold times of the year, the heater will be there to warm the house. The heat of the summer is no problem for a good home. The ideal dwelling definitely must have a dependable central air conditioner. When located in an area abundant with tornadoes and hurricanes, a home must have a safe place. A storm shelter or a basement is an excellent place to hide. But to most people home has more meaning than just dwelling it should be a place where their family is, where they could have family times together.
The future holds a different meaning for everyone, for some it holds hope while for others it holds despair. This constant wondering about the future has influenced many works to be written about the future. Some of these works propose a blissful future, but the majority paint the picture of an unfortunate dystopian world. Recently I read Daughters of the North, a novel in which the dystopian future of England is shown. Shortly after reading Daughters of the North, I watched The Road. This film showed a similar view of the future, yet more grim and unappealing that Daughters of the North. In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting these two works to show two different points of view of what a dystopian world is. After watching The Road I realised there was a large amount of books and movies that believe the future will be grim. I believe this is because as humans we fear what may be in our future due to the conflicts that we face today and wish to warm the world.
In a matter of fact, home is a noun that is defined in the -Collins
Blake took a deep breath and slinged the last blanket on top with minimal assistance, and climbed into the fort. He was more intent in me having a pleasant time at his place than he was about being fatigued from his medications. He wanted a friend, he wanted to play, and he was upbeat even though at times it was a struggle. With his eagerness to be active when he was having an unfavorable day, his optimism for life showed through.
Things were becoming different for me. My hair had very little gray and grew like weeds. My sense