When I fly to LA for the weekend (or for hiatus or anything), I say “I’m going home to L.A.”
And people are pretty mercilessly (though, generally lovingly) making fun of me for that.
Now, on the one hand, I kinda deserve that. I complained about LA since the moment I got off the plane to move there. I never bought a bed frame or a nightstand – or a car! Heck, The Price is Right gave me a car, and I got rid of it.
I didn’t want anything that was going to tie me down to Los Angeles, California.
And now as soon as I left, I’m all “I’m going home(!)”? It doesn’t really make that much sense…
Buuuut, it is my home, is it not?
I mentioned in yesterday’s post about how it has all the things I’m used to – all my favorite restaurants, theaters I love – and of course most importantly, people I love!
And I pretty much just left. I mean, I was in LA like 6 weeks ago. I still have stuff at my LA apartment! How quickly do I have to stop calling it home?
It is the only place I’ve truly lived (not just subletted for a few months) other than my college apartment. And it’s basically the longest I’ve ever lived in one place. I moved a lot growing up. So, I don’t have a special childhood home… I don’t think of my dad tied to a certain city (as I usually see him when we’re both traveling, and as he’s also moved a lot (of course)).
Los Angeles kind of is my home. (Technically it actually is still my home. I still have my LA residency, and often go there when I’m not here.)
If something were to happen to my job in New York, I’d probably go to LA (’cause it’s my home!).
So what are the constraints of what we call home? How do you decide when that word is okay? How quickly do I have to stop using that word? I still feel like I just left! When you move, how easy has it been for you to really leave?
If I started calling New York City home immediately, don’t you think people would make fun of me then, just in a different way?
When I moved away from Ohio after high school, I made a conscious effort to never call it home, partly so that I always knew I was embracing my new home on the east coast… and people thought that was weird! (So, they think it’s weird if you call the new place your home right away too!)
So… is it weird to embrace your new home immediately? Or is it weird not to be able to let go of your last home? Or am I just not allowed to use the word home anymore?
(Not that any of this really matters… Just kinda postulating out loud here…
Words. Weird.
“How do you decide when the word ‘home’ is OK?”
Anywhere there’s a cat! 🙂