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After Mompriest commented on how many places she'd moved in only six years of her childhood, I started wondering if I could list the places I've lived. I'm not sure if I've ever done that, and I'd like to tell my children all the different locations I (and they) have been. Until I was in high school, my dad was in the Marine Corps, so he was transferred every few years.
Jan's childhood moves:
1. Bremerton, WA
2. Quantico, VA
3. Camp Pendleton, CA
4. Lubbock, TX
5. Lynden, WA (my mother's hometown, while my dad went to Japan)
6. Quantico, VA
7. Camp Pendleton, CA
8. Yokosuka, Japan
9. El Toro, CA
10. Bellingham, WA (while my dad was in Okinawa and Vietnam)
11. Camp Pendleton, CA
12. Bellingham, WA (where we moved when my dad retired from the Marine Corps) (1966-1971)
Jan's married moves:
1. Bellingham, WA
2. Seattle, WA
3. Richmond, VA
4. Newport, OR
5. Corvallis OR (where CB went to grad school)
6. Corpus Christi, TX (1978-1985)
7. Euless, TX (which I refer to as "Dallas")
8. Corpus Christi, TX (1988-1991)
9. North Kingstown, RI
10. Morristown, NJ
11. Corpus Christi, TX (1994-present)
Although I came to think of Bellingham, WA as my hometown (as I went to high school and college there and that's where we lived in my family's first non-military base housing), I have now lived in Corpus Christi, TX longer than anywhere else I've ever lived (a total of 23 years).
10 comments:
Wow. It's tough to move that much. Although I think it also builds in us a willingness to move. My husband has lived in the same basic area for 50 years and the thought of moving away is real hard for him. And, like you, I have now lived here (Chicago are) for 35 years...which begs the question, why do I call SLC home?
Now that we have lived in the same house for 23 years and the same community for 30, I have begun to think that there *might* be some appeal in making a change. Might being the operative word.
Mompriest, we will probably be in Chicago in a couple of weeks to visit our son. He lives on the west side of the city. I'm sure we will be limited for time, but maybe breakfast, if you are close by?
I have always been curious about the effect of place....rootedness vs "movedness" on our sense of who we are. I lived in one town 18 years, made a 4 year break for college, came back home for 5 more years, had a brief 3 month foray out East, then another long stay for 25 years in one place, now nearly 5 years here...I guess I'm more the rooted type. That is quite a list you have! I'd be curious to know your thoughts sometime on if/how you think the moving so much shaped/impacted you.
I'm with Kate, Jan. If you'd like to share on this topic, how did all this moving shape who you are? or are becoming? We moved three times in my 7th grade year and each time it became more and more difficult for me ... Belden Lane's work on sacred places has always meant so much to me.
I lived in the same house until I was 17, then lived in four houses(in that same town)in one year! My husband moved nearly as often as you did during his childhood,and I do think that there are differences in our personalities that might have something to do with all the moving (or lack thereof) in our formative years. We have lived in this house 15 years, and he says that's the longest he's ever been in one place.
Jan, amazing.
Here's my moving history:
New Orleans until I was 24
Mobile, AL - 3 years
Hammond, LA - 5 years
Small town in south Louisiana, where I live now - 38 years
Only four different places.
Grandmere Mimi, how I envy you. I love hearing about your life. Thank you.
Jan, thank you for your kind words about my stories.
I left out the 1 1/2 years I spent in Baton Rouge, LA, while I went to LSU to get my master's degree. I did not like Baton Rouge, so I must have blocked that memory. That makes 5 places.
I should remember that time, because that's where I met my husband.
Grandmere Mimi, what is your master's in?
Library Science. I am Mimi, the librarian (retired).
I think it's called Information Science or some such name today. I liked it better when it was all about books.
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