Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Home sweet Home

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Being back in my childhood home my thoughts turn around family, and the life I had when I lived here. The familiar objects tell me stories I do not hear in France, nor do they share the same meaning. I look at things I have seen a million times before, and memories flood my head taking me to places where in France the river does not run.

Where does the damn burst in you, when does the flood gate open? Have you ever been carried away by a rush of memories, causing you to forget where you are? Reminding you who you have become?

photo: My Mother’s Garden.

Comments

48 responses to “Home sweet Home”

  1. Mary

    Most often for me it will be music – hearing a certain piece of classical music or a recording made here in Australia of birdsong set to music – that will always remind me of my late father (who died too young at 64) – or a song from the eighties will immediately take me back to the endless university party days ! Driving along and hearing the former can reduce me to tears and the latter will have me turn the radio up REAL loud and singing along badly! Mary

    Reply
  2. minnie

    listening to leonard cohens, “dance till the end of love” seems to take me back to another life. i feel like a gypsy wandering the streets of europe, endlessly feeling love…..

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  3. angela marie

    I would have to say it would be listening to songs… or looking a photos of times of the past.
    beautiful post Corey!

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  4. Chantal

    Beautiful photo! It totally conveys the familiarity of and sense of belonging to our original nest. Memories never fail to flood into my heart and head every time I go back to France, even if the nest is no more.

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  5. Jensie

    It’s music that does it for me, hearing the Soweto String Quartet or Ladysmith Black mambazo – their african rhythem remind me so much of warm days, blue skies and people I love and miss, nice to know I am not alone in theis corey…..

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  6. Leny

    Frangrances and music
    always take me back
    in time and awake sweet memories of days
    gone by.

    Reply
  7. Farfallina -Roam 2 Rome

    Wow… I’m soooo close to moving to Rome, and have hit a little bump while being here at home.
    Currently, I’M LIVING a rush of memories 🙂 hehe…
    After my post, this was the first blog I read, and it couldn’t be better!
    FIT LIKE A GLOBE!
    Thanks…

    Reply
  8. Jeanne

    I have a memory bank to reflect upon of the most sacred times in my life.
    They are in my souls chamber
    and I draw upon them often.
    When your family is away from you and then you return your heart is always torn for the other family you are missing back home I suppose.
    Life is a delicate balancing act.
    Love you
    Jeanne

    Reply
  9. tut-tut

    My goodness; you take my breath away. And Jeanne: “my souls chamber”!
    Lots to think about today.

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  10. sheila

    Music will usually do it.
    Different pieces will evoke memories of different times in my life.
    The result can be tears and laughter, sometimes both, but always sweet.

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  11. My Melange

    My Mom was a country music fan, so when I hear old songs she used to play, including Elvis, that does it. And my Dad liked Abba(I do too) and we used to all dance around the living room when Abba was on…funny stuff!

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  12. carole

    Hi Corey:
    How fun to grow into our skin : )
    A woman with a child’s delightful memories
    carole

    Reply
  13. ally bean

    Furniture from my parents’ house will sometimes take me back in time. I see it every day in our home, but once in awhile the light will catch on it in such a way that I am transported back to when I was a little girl and they were both alive. Always is a bittersweet moment for me.

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  14. Cre8Tiva

    a rush of memories can stop me in my tracks…i am not a looking back person…but my soul’s chamber does hold some wonderous things…and when it opens…i just stay with the moment…let it flood over me, through me and within me…it is my time only…sacred memories…blessings, rebecca

    Reply
  15. Pauline Clarke

    I have moved back to the town in which I grew up so the floodgates are always open, the memories of yesterday and the ones I make today share a landscape. Many of my school chums have done the same – there’s a group of us that share entire childhood memories and when we get together, the walls between past and present dissolve…

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  16. carolyn

    Always – my memories burst upon me with only the slightest provaction.

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  17. mgm

    I’m always on the verge of going back in time to my childhood I love this post! xo

    Reply
  18. Paris Oiseau

    Ah ha!
    So that’s where your Mom parks you when you fly home after fleeing the coop for foreign climes?!
    And the nest is for the 2 fledglings?

    Reply
  19. Paula

    Yes, when I look at my bed of zinnias, sweet williams and in Spring when I look down in to the first tulip.
    Flowers comprise many of my “first” memories as a child. They form the very core of my being.

    Reply
  20. martina

    Fragrances (Dad-cedar and linseed oil, Mom-cookies and Opium cologne, Aunty-Ivory soap). Songs-Dad would sing sentimental old Western songs. Every time I hear “Summertime” I think of Mom. She would sing it and change the lyrics to “your Daddy is rich and your Mama is good lookin—-ha ha that is a laugh”. Seriously, she has a beautiful voice still and hearing her sing and/or play the piano brings back many memories.

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  21. Leau

    I read somewhere that scent is the strongest tie to that part of the brain where memories are kept – the soul’s chamber perhaps? But like Leny, it is fragrance and music that jump start a flood of memories. the smell of tomato vines,the rush of the wind from the mountain, and anything Zydeco brings my dad’s voice into my head.
    Love this post, you Rock! (heart)leau

    Reply
  22. Hasmin

    Ahhh…music and food usually does it for me.

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  23. UP

    A rush of memories often overcomes me. I find it is sad, fun, and educational to remember both the good/fun times and the bad times we often try to forget. I believe that we are who we are today because of the experiences we had earlier in life.

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  24. Linda

    A sound, like a train whistle, will do it for me and being in the airport when I first arrive and hearing either French or English. It takes my brain a while to figure out where I am.

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  25. marita

    oh so many times i’ve been swept away by memories. you only recognize them when you’re living abroad or away from your roots… sometimes sweet reminders but often remeniscing of those happy days gone by. it’s getting worse by the years!

    Reply
  26. Elaine

    Yes, there is a point where everything inside me remembers who I was and why I am who I am today. The smell of tea cakes baking brings back a flood of memories of my Grandmother standing in the kitchen. Every Friday and Saturday, she would bake and cook for hours preparing for Sunday. My uncles, aunts and cousins would all be there for the midday meal. She was a remarkable cook and baked like no one I have ever known.
    She was not quite five feet tall so her stature did not reflect how I saw her. She was the best woman I have ever known. It was an honor and a privilege to know her and be her granddaughter. Everything that I know that is good, loving, gentle or useful in this life, I learned from her. She blessed my life!

    Reply
  27. Star

    I’m being swept away by the current at the moment.

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  28. Rosemary

    I so know what you mean. It’s amazing to me what you might think of, by just seeing or hearing something. Things you have not thought about for ages.
    Your mother has the garden of my dreams.
    Rosemary

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  29. tommiea

    every time I see those green plants in the pot…(hens and chicks I think) I think of you!

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  30. lila

    As the years go by, I remember only the good times! We had a charmed and blessed life!

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  31. Mary Kate

    The sound of the foghorn always starts the memories for me. I used to fall asleep at night, almost everynight in the foggy summers, listening to the foghorns. I guess that watching my kids makes me more sensitive to the day-to-day things that they see and hear and do and I always wonder what little things they will remember.

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  32. Di Overton

    My damn burst whenever I visit London. I was born there and still have a great affection for it. I am a very proud Londoner without the accent which I lost when I was about 12. However I can only stay a few days and then can’t wait to get back to peace and quiet.

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  33. Mo’a

    Like you Corey, I do not live in the land of my birth. When I am in Iceland I close my eyes and listen to the sound of my language spoken by people who use it every day…I especially like to hear the men and children talk as most of my Icelandic friends here in the US are women. This is what opens the flood gates for me.

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  34. Dawn

    Beautiful, sweet Corey…memories are such precious treasures to me. I think they make me who I am, who we all are…loving that you make me think! xxoo, Dawn

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  35. Blue

    Often. When I think of loved ones that are gone. Sometimes their presence is felt and I long for the days when I had them by my side.
    Flood gates open up then.
    xo
    Blue

    Reply
  36. Frieda

    I know exactly what you mean..
    I grew up in the Middle East and when I went back ( the first time around) after 10 years, the rush of emotions and memories was exactly like a flood gate.
    I remembered things that I’d never thought about while I was away.
    Every smell, every noise, every view, and even the nearby shops had a memory hidden in them for me!

    Reply
  37. eb

    THIS is the floodgate HERE… chez vous –
    but mine…is walking into my Mother’slaundry room in the summer home the smell of fresh laundry it is HER my Mother, and it is HERE that the floodgates break open for me and it is frequent with or without them here it is that smell of clean my Mother’s clean you know
    xox – eb.

    Reply
  38. Lea

    When I drive over the Russian River bridge and the Alexander Valley floor lays before me… and the wheels of my pink stingray bicycle spin in the dust of the Jimtown store and melt on my tongue like the missle pops or the scent of my mother’s perfume that wafts around me like a hug… beautiful post and responses… thank you…

    Reply
  39. Stephanie

    Just a lovely photo…
    My flood gates seem to be opening more and more frequently, every little thing…..maybe hormones:)
    And the passing of my grandmother has me thinking back very often these days….it is so sweet.

    Reply
  40. tlchang

    That’s a really good question… I seem to find it near northern oceans and northeastern woods…

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  41. cruststation

    I love your question, the childhood home holds dear.

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  42. Paris Chez Nous

    That’s a very pretty house your Mom has 🙂

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  43. Sue McG

    Welcome Home Corey!
    For me it’s when I go home to Australia – there are the people, things and places I look forward to seeing, and then the many, many little things that take me by surprise each time – stirring up memories and smiles that can only be triggered by the very familiar and yet temporarily forgotten. Love going home 🙂

    Reply
  44. Jenny Fillius

    Hey Tongue in Chic,
    Everytime I return to Point Richmond I learn more about why I am who i am. It’s always a relief.

    Reply
  45. susanna

    I feel this way every time I return to Canada. The accents, the music, the difference in television programming, and especially being in the presence of old friends and family – they all remind me that this is Home.

    Reply
  46. Alexandra

    You are so fortunate to have that anchor or foundation of a “home”. We traveled like gypsies all over the world, so I have no real home. Home is where I am now. I’ve never actually closed the book and started another chapter…it’s just sort of threaded along like rock candy.

    Reply
  47. simple me

    I heard a while ago something that goes like this … the most ephemeral of things we have (memories) are the ones that last longer … a lifetime.

    Reply
  48. tinker

    Nothing says ‘home’ quite like hens and chicks…
    Unless it’s my grandmother’s lilac bush. 🙂

    Reply

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