"No place to call your own." - Jazzanova, So Far From Home (feat. Phonte)
Prompt 14: Home Is...
When did you feel most at home this year: in your life, in your space, in your career, in your skin? What factors make that situation feel like home? Do certain comforts make your space feel like home? Does being with certain people make you feel complete? Is there an activity in which you excel that makes you feel like you're doing what you were meant to do?This is your life. Where do you live? Where is home?
We spent the first half of 2011 looking for a new place to live. Tiffany had moved west into my 1 bedroom bachelor pad and it was obvious that she still felt the visitor. It was my stuff. It was laid out best for me. It functioned the way it had functioned for the previous 5 years, ways that the bachelor me had refined.
It was my spot. It wasn't our home.
So we recruited Carrie, good friend and even better real estate agent, to help us out. I had gotten it into my head that I wanted to move to Atwater Village. We were both pretty sure that we wanted to rent a house if at all possible and, so Carrie set out trying to make all those things happen within our budget and other requirements.
Over the next few months, we would go to open houses or make visits to properties and always find a reason to not jump on it. Too big, too small. Too old. Too weird. Something always pulled us away. I think it mostly had to do with also being in the midst of planning our wedding. That was just one too many big decisions to have to make before May 14th.
Proving that out, just a few days after we returned from New Orleans as newlyweds, Carrie sent us some new listings. One stuck out. It was in the neighborhood I grew up in (Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks) just a few doors down from where one of my best friends lived when we were in junior high and high school. Just down the street from the elementary school I used to go to to play basketball.
On our first house visit, we walked through the doors, and immediately, it felt like it could be our home. It was bright. Sun comes in from everywhere. It was open. It's a perfect place for entertaining. It had charm. The kitchen features mid century tiled counters and a mixture of old and new appliances; the den looks like the Brady bunch would've hung out there with it's wood panelling and wet bar and built in cabinets and drawers. Plus, it has a secret room.
On our second house visit, we learned the owners had grown up in the house and that we had gone to the same high school. In fact, she also does consulting work for the mouse. It all seemed like kismet.
It was.
Our third house visit wasn't a visit at all. We were moving in.
And it's been home ever since.
A good home.
Soundtrack to this post
- My Way Home (feat. Common) by Kanye West
- So Far From Home by Jazzanova
- Homecoming by Kanye West
- Hometown Glory by Adele
- Hometone Glory (radio edit) by Adele
- GAMEBOY/HOMEBOY (Que' Onda Guero) by Beck
- Home Is Where the Hatred Is by Esther Phillips
- I Wonder If I Take You Home by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam