Living next door to childhood home or on the other side of the world?
This is not a new dilemma but one that is immensely personal. I live about 15000km away from the country I was born in and lived in until I started stints of living overseas when I was 16.
I have no great yearn for my home country, Finland, other than for my close family and a few friends, whom I see elsewhere. Oh and ofcourse salmiakki and a sauna by the lake, a good day in the summer, blueberries in the woods, gooseberries, peas, …….
Rootlessness is a topic which interests me and as I’ve spoken with many people on it and read articles on the topic. Everyone has a story to tell. We all have made a choice to live close, relatively far away or really far away from our home country, our close family, our childhood friends, loved ones. We make these choices for all kinds of reasons. The consequences of the choices are varied and fascinating to listen to.
We have a family friend who never left the home he was born in and raised his own family in the same house. Yet his work was always international. I have friends who either want to go back to their home country, or their husband’s home country or who have no interest what so ever. They say that we yearn for our home country when we get older. Hmmm, perhaps, but this does not sound like a rule from what I am hearing.
This topic keeps popping up for me….will get back later
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