Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Going Home

The barn

Photography and text: Corey Amaro

 

Our bags are packed.

Tickets in hand.

But not ready to go.

 

 

 

Rice fields

 

While driving on the back roads I snapped photos out of the window.

October is Willows fails to disappoint:

The harvest, the golden hue, the open spaces to stand in awe.

Sunsets.

 

 

Road W

 

Going home.

Feeling at home.

It is all the same.

Open space

 

I heard somewhere that the place where one lives when they are around twelve years old has a lasting impression on ones visual concept of home.

Barn

Old barns.

Dairies,

Pick up trucks,

Rice fields.

Children come and go.

 

  
Barn rd 44

 

Do you live in the same place where you were born?

 

Comments

66 responses to “Going Home”

  1. Linda

    Not me. Born in Houston, Tx, then lived in Silver City, NM, Durango, CO, Phoenix, AZ, then Prescott, AZ. My Dad wasn’t in the armed services-he was just trying to find himself. I finally ended up back in Tx, met a Frenchman and, as you know, here I am in France. Who knew?

    Reply
  2. Tace

    No, I live in Arizona now, in California for a few years before that, but I was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada. Nova Scotia is a home, but REAL home, is where ever my husband and I are together. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Annie

    I’m so sorry that I could not see you this time around. With Don being so sick this last month, I have not wanted to stray to far. Bon Voyage and safe journey back. There will be other times. Hugs, Annie

    Reply
  4. Beverly

    No..born in Washington DC.But moved to the countryside of the North East..divorced and married an Englishman..Now I am in London England.If anyone told me this 20 years ago I would have laughed..

    Reply
  5. Natalie Thiele

    No, but not far. I am from Berkeley, but live in Sacramento. Always love going back home. My parents are both gone now, but my sister lives in their house.
    Have a safe flight home!

    Reply
  6. Jann

    Born and raised in Iowa, left home soon
    after I was married when I was 20,
    and have lived in Florida for 36 years.
    But Florida has never felt like home.
    I used to cry as we left Iowa after
    a visit home to see family, but don’t
    get back there much now.
    Guess home is where your heart is,
    and these days it is with my dear husband.
    Jann

    Reply
  7. Merisi, Vienna

    I don’t live where I was born, never have as an adult, but I am still most at home in landscapes that remind me of the one I rode my bike through at twelve years old, under endless skies and fields extending all the way to the horizon (I can still evoke the warm airstream and smell the sweet fragrance of sun-drenched fields and hear the sizzle of hot air on a summer afternoon, after all those years). The German writer Arno Schmidt spoke of “eine mir gemäße Landschaft”, a “landscape of one’s soul” (a bit daring to translate the words of a great writer, but such is my own interpretation), and flat landscapes are what speak to me, from along the Italian river Po to the Eastern Shore on the American East Coast, down to America’s South. Rivers, old rivers, and their riparian woods, I find fascinating also, growing up along one and surviving my share of Huckleberry Finn adventures (even though, my playmates and I never got our rafts to float down the river, thankfully. 😉
    Have a safe trip home,
    you’ll see it will be joyful,
    hugs,
    Merisi

    Reply
  8. Paulita

    Do you and French Husband ever consider moving back to Willows. You seem so happy there. Of course, you’re happy in France too. I grew up in the same house from the time I was two until I graduated high school. My parents moved when I was about 25. I lived in D.C., Florida, Michigan, and now I’m back to Ohio, about one and half hours from my home. I never visit that little town. Maybe I will this weekend when an old high school friend and I have facials.

    Reply
  9. carol

    No. Born and raised in CT. Lived in FL for 10 years and now live in a small town, a very small town, in ME. Family still in CT so I return to my roots on visits. Sigh!
    Wishing to a safe flight home.

    Reply
  10. jend’isère

    Born one year, one month, one day and one hundred miles from you, my life has brought me east. After spending half of my life in Europe, my 12 year old side still shines as a Washingtonian, especialy on this election day. Like many, I feel at home in several places in differing ways. So welcome home to you!

    Reply
  11. Gracie

    I’ve lived here all my life, here is where my heart and my memories are rooted, but now it seems I don’t belong here anymore, now I have this dream about going somewhere else…..

    Reply
  12. Irina

    this is my third country I call home. they are so different (Ukraine, the US, Hong Kong(China), I love them all.
    dreaming of France though…

    Reply
  13. Karen

    I live two states away since I was 18, and I have no desire to go back to live there.. but oddly, some of my dreams still take place in the house I grew up in.

    Reply
  14. pauline

    I live in the same town but not the same house, much to my dismay. It was sold ten years ago and I still miss it. After years of travel (always returning here) I decided this place still felt like home and I settled into a tiny cottage about three miles from my old homeplace. I doubt I’ll move away again unless circumstance (read old age and infirmity) interfere. I understand the pull Willows exerts.

    Reply
  15. Jackie

    “A landscape of one’s soul…” ahhh, that says it all.
    jackie
    bliss farm antiques

    Reply
  16. carol

    Not only do I live where I was born but in the house where my mother was born almost 95 years ago. I have lived and traveled elsewhere, but my heart always sings when in sight of my rolling hills!!
    Have a safe trip!!

    Reply
  17. herhimnbryn

    No. Ten thousand miles away…

    Reply
  18. Nancy

    I was born in Texas, grew up in Arkansas, now live in Kentucky and none of them feel like home. I guess I feel most at home when I go see my sister in Arkansas. She is the only family I have left except for my daughter. Have a safe trip back to France!

    Reply
  19. Rhonda P.

    Born and raised in Chicagoland and now live in Arizona. What a huge life change for me. I’m sorry, there is no place like HOME. I’d love to say where I actually live is home but I’d be wrong, home is where my family and all my childhood and most of my adult memories are.

    Reply
  20. Natasha Burns

    Yeah, I live in the same suburb, 2 kilometres from my grandparent’s old house (we lived in a flat downstairs when I was a baby), and one kilometre from my parents’ house, where I grew up. I love it here. My husband grew up an hour away from here, and he now loves it here too. Our son goes to the same primary school I went to! He’ll make his Communion and Confirmation there in the same church I did. I like that we’re part of our area, and it’s part of us.
    {however, if I had met a gorgeous French man, I am certain it would be a different story!}

    Reply
  21. Christina

    Not living where I grew up either.
    I don’t believe it’s just location but the family bonds… parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, family friends, that makes one feel ‘home’.
    Though i wish my kids could experience the same joys i went thru growing up where I did… I miss the home of my soul as well.
    Christina

    Reply
  22. Paula S In New Mexico

    Born and raised in Colorado. Now call New Mexico home…………

    Reply
  23. Darlene

    I read an article that said most people will live and die within 15 miles of their birthplace. I am not the exception. I live 14 miles from the hospital I was born in. My mom lives in the house she was born in. She says she wants to die there…sort of to complete the circle of life. I don’t know how I feel about that.

    Reply
  24. Ed in Willows

    Born in Sacramento but have lived in Willows since I was 5. I’ll probably die here too.

    Reply
  25. Hillary

    Grew up in one house and after two of us were out my parents have built a bigger house! I came back for a year and now hubby and I are living in my Grandmothers home. It’s just like I remember because the basement hasn’t changed much since we moved in. The best part is I can feel both of my Grandfather’s spirits there some day and smell the smell of my Grandmother. Can’t wait to raise my children in that house.

    Reply
  26. Everton Terrace

    Yes. I was born in Phoenix and still live here. I lived in northern Arizona for a while but that probably still counts. I long to live somewhere else, by the sea or near the woods but somehow I can’t imagine leaving the desert (except in summer of course).

    Reply
  27. Evelyn

    how interesting … I do not live in the same place I was born, but I find myself always attracted to neighborhoods that resemble the one I grew up in – cape cod homes with big yards on a rural road.

    Reply
  28. melly

    Born and raised in Portugal.
    Moved to Central New York at 14. Although 44 yrs have gone by, my heart still longs for “home”. Family ties keep me here, but my soul must be released over there. My ashes will go home……

    Reply
  29. becky up a hill

    No. I lived in East Biggs for 25 years. I loved my parent’s home and property. Then I married and moved to many beautiful places. I live in a beautiful place now. Here is the interesting part. 75 per cent of my dreams, I’m home in East Biggs, at my parents house on the property. So I don’t live where I grew up, I just visit in my dreams~

    Reply
  30. meppybn

    Heavens no! I now live 6000 miles from where I grew up – after following my heart. But somehow I still call NZ ‘home’ even after having lived here in the States longer than I lived there – you’re right, Corey, there is something about the blessing of a wonderful family that just calls ‘home’………….

    Reply
  31. Fran

    After my mother died, I moved into the house she and my father built, the one I grew up in. I can feel her all around me.
    Best wishes for a safe flight back to France. Parting really is sweet sorrow.

    Reply
  32. Brenda L from TN

    Not me either…Born in Bristol, VA…moved back (for parents) to Chattanooga TN when 6 months old and Dad enlisted in WWII. All of Dad’s and some of Mom’s family lived here. Raised here and still live here except for 8 yrs after I married when (now ex)husband’s job transferred us to TX and then back to Memphis,Knoxville and Elizabethton TN and finally back to Chattanooga. My son lives in my Mom’s house and I will be moving back into it by next spring.I lived in that house from 5 yrs. old til I married. It is and always will be HOME…..Safe trip home for you both.

    Reply
  33. Candy

    No. Born in Colorado. Spent some time in Arizona. Now in Texas. The mountains are still in my blood. And I really miss the seasons. Interestingly I have not lived in the same state as my parents since I was 18. I was the one who had to get away. I’m still glad I did.

    Reply
  34. Jillayne

    I don’t, I was born in the Yukon and left there when I was 37, the most gut-wrenching experience ever. It’s so isolated from the rest of the contry you might as well live in another country and I still can’t believe I left. But it was the right thing for my husband and children, and in truth, it was a good thing for me too. But it’s home, it’s who I am. I have been following your journey home and thinking about what this must be like for you; two loves, oceans apart, completely different, and yet both so much a part of who you are. I love the town where I live now; it’s beautiful in a pretty way (the Yukon is very wild) and I am happy. But when I go there for a visit I feel a settling in my soul that I just don’t get anywhere else. I’ll be thinking about you Corey.

    Reply
  35. christine

    We even live in the house my husband grew up in…..

    Reply
  36. martina

    I still consider the house I lived my first six years in as home. Found the address on google recently and put it in My Pictures as “home”. Also consider Favorite Aunty’s house of 65 years as home. So many happy memories and when she opens the door you can just feel love surrounding you.

    Reply
  37. Kathie B.

    I second Tace, who wrote, “REAL home, is where ever my husband and I are together. :)”

    Reply
  38. Carolyn Mallin

    I was born in Chicago, spent my growing up years there. Then the suburbs for many years. I do often think of my grandmothers house in Chicago. Sometimes I dream of visiting there but those are just memories.
    We moved to Kentucky three years ago and this is truly home to me. I’m the grandmother now and we moved here to be near my son and his family.My grandchildren light up my life. Kentucky is a beautiful place and truly feels like home. I’ve made many friends here and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

    Reply
  39. Patt

    Born at Travis AFB CA….. Spent my whole childhood moving every three years. Between England and California. I now live in Yuba City, Where my mothers family lives. My children grew up here and for my Utah husband and I this is home. I do still long for England. I guess I have duel homeplaces. Have a safe trip. Sorry I missed you. Hopefully soon.

    Reply
  40. Donna

    No, I live over 500 miles from where I grew up — grew up in the midwest part of the USA and now live in the mid-Atlantic part of the country. In fact, I have now lived in the eastern part of the country a few years longer than I lived in the midwest. I love my current home, but sooooo agree with you that there is something very theraputic that happens to the soul when visiting the place where you grew up. I can so relate to your every word, Corey! Thanks for sharing your feelings with us.

    Reply
  41. Theresa

    No, I was born in Memphis Tenn. but left when I was just 3 weeks old. We came to California and have been here since.

    Reply
  42. Laurie SF

    I’ve lived in San Francisco for twenty years…but, Willows will always be home to me.
    Safe journey home.

    Reply
  43. Cheryl Seymour

    Born and raised in small town Wisconsin. After graduating I left to experience big city life, which I loved. Somehow though after 20 years of the big cities, I am back in the same small town in Wisconsin, my true home. Huh.

    Reply
  44. kelleyn

    Have a safe trip home!

    Reply
  45. Jenna

    No, but it’s home in many ways. Have a safe flight.

    Reply
  46. jennifer heck

    I was born in So. California & lived there for my first 25 years of life. Moved to Maxwell, CA & ended up raising a family 17 miles up the road in Willows. I thought I was in another world at first, so far away from family & friends. But, after awhile, Willows became home. The beauty that Corey describes is all around, in a quiet way. Fall is now my favorite time of the year!

    Reply
  47. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    I live in the city I was born in.
    This is home…

    Reply
  48. Patti

    I was born in Pasadena, California to small town Washington parents. They came “home” to their tiny town in the country when I was 2-3 months old. I, however, never got the city out of my heart. After high school I moved to Seattle where I lived for more than half my life. A few years ago we moved to my husbands small city across the Sound to take care of family. I miss my city life. When my daughters and I step off the ferry in Seattle, we sigh, “ah, home”. …BUT the smell of cow manure always remdinds me of the home where I grew up in farming country! 🙂

    Reply
  49. Lisa V

    Born here in the Napa Valley, it is still home but radically different than when I grew up. From being surrounded by dairies, cattle ranches, and prune orchards we now live amongst multi-million dollar vineyard estates, luxury hotels and world renown restaurants we can’t afford to eat at. Even with all the changes, I can’t imagine living any where else.

    Reply
  50. Jean(ne) Pierre in MN

    Grew up in Whittier CA in the 1950s & 60s, married my French love in France, raised my family in Minnesota & now all are scattered–globalization of family these days. I envy my friends here who never left and have everyone close by, but the CA I knew doesn’t exist any more.

    Reply
  51. maria

    After moving away for a few years after I married, we moved back to the town we both were born. To a neighborhood where friends and classmates grew up. One classmate lived in my house when she was a little girl, others next door. Or next block, or around the corner. My sisters and I all have deep roots and deep attachments here. And moving away has made us all come home again. For years I haunted the street of house I grew up in. My mom sold it a few months after my dad died.
    This November 7th my dad will be gone 20 years. I was 30 at the time. This seems impossible to me, this passage of time. 20 years since I’ve seen him???
    I’ve been in our current home 17 years. My first just went off to college this fall. I can see the beginning of the end of days here as well. But I am more ready to move on this time…

    Reply
  52. Judi

    What a wonderful trip you have had! A nice, long, varied trip. But all of it full of love and fun. I’m so happy for you and absolutely understand the tears. I just left my birth family back in Chicago after a short visit and it tore my heart out of my chest to leave them 🙁 You’ll feel better when you and FH are back in France and settled into your routine. How lucky you and all your family is to be able to have such love and to travel.

    Reply
  53. annie vanderven

    After moving 14 times all over the world, in my life, finally settled in Ct US, but France will always be my home, My heart belongs in the US, because my children are here, scattered allover the US, but my soul belongs in France where I was born and lived till I was 20.
    Annie v.

    Reply
  54. Laura

    Safe travels….love is waiting for you on both sides of that ocean!

    Reply
  55. Jamie V

    oh, I really like seeing photos of near where I used to live! I grew up in Marysville – not that far from Willows, but then lived in Chico, where my family homesteaded so very long ago! Thank you for the wonderful memories of a glorious place to grow up – No. CA!!! Jamie V in MT

    Reply
  56. ann

    No, but then where I lived was nowhere near as good as Willow. Although I do live in the same county – its a case of where you meet your partner and where he earned the money.

    Reply
  57. Cindy

    I was born somewhere else but moved here when I was 6 months old. Yup! Packed up my diaper bag and toys. I’ve lived here my whole life. Lived in the same house until I got married at 24 yrs. We sold the house after my mom died 20 yrs. ago and I have driven by to look at it a few times and even went inside once.
    I’ve travelled a lot but my home will always be here.
    Home to me is, wide open spaces, as far as the eye can see and bright yellow fields of canola and golden wheat fields and the smell of poplar and spruce trees.
    I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have your heart in two places. Have a safe trip home you two.

    Reply
  58. Claudia

    No. I (was) moved seven times since my birth. I guess my earlier concept of home derived from the time when I went to school, because this where some thirteen years when we didn’t move house. A lot of things around there have changed now, so although my parents live there again, this is not my home anymore.
    Once upon a time, I thought that home would be wherever my own family lived, but I guess it could be anywhere were one feels at home, regarding the surrounding nature, the people, and the degree of inner contentment. Willows seems to be a h(e)aven for all of that… 😉

    Reply
  59. Lia deKoster

    Dear Sweet Corey
    I have just read
    your
    tales
    You do sound a little different in your
    home
    town…
    I ponder on this.
    My two big babies live away.
    One where I grew up from 4 to 13
    Sydney…
    I took all my honeys and visited him
    in the school holidays – 2 weeks past…
    i…………miss……..him…so
    he is
    19 – and beautiful
    rebellious and hurtful a little
    ..i..miss…him…so
    My little girl, with my little..
    grand daughter….well they live….7 house south………….a wee drive…
    this is the town in which i raised my children…it
    all feels
    different…welcoming…nurturing and safe…
    but i have a heart and a home where I live now with my one boy…beautiful boy…15
    a new honey and his (my)lovely young son..Mr 10
    i feel your travel woes
    your
    love
    and your
    home
    ciao
    lia

    Reply
  60. Judy B. – Texas

    Live in the same city where I was born – lived in Northern California for almost 2 years – loved it. Since I have a Gypsy Heart, I love to travel, but Texas will always be home. Safe trip “home” to you and FH – you’ve had a wild, marvelous journey and made many memories – when you get back to your regular life in France, you will settle back in – that’s just the way it is.

    Reply
  61. Sheala

    Loved the pics of home…..I’ll be there next Thursday!!!!!

    Reply
  62. Jo

    At twelve, I lived on a mountainside overlooking a tiny Okinawan fishing village and the East China Sea. Since then I have lived in many countries and have wonderful memories of each place. Even though we moved a lot, my mother always made sure we felt settled and at home. I don’t have ties to any one home town, but always feel at home no matter where I hang my hat. Bon voyage Corey!

    Reply
  63. Maura @ Lilac Lane Cottage

    No I don’t even live in the same country where I was born! I was born in a small town on the Canadian prairies…now I live in the country in Kansas. Not much different…just a long way from home. I understand your feelings about leaving home and going home which is made even harder now that the children won’t be there. Good luck….and have a safe journey. Maura

    Reply
  64. Deb

    I am one of the very fortunate ones… I recently moved back, not just into the same town I grew up in, but the same house. My Dad built this home in the 50’s and we have always loved it, so when my parents passed away not that long ago, the decision was made to make the (huge) move back here. Yes, you *can* go home! Safe travels, Corey… xo Deb

    Reply
  65. Victoria Ramos

    Safe Travels…. I ‘almost’ live in the same town. Grew up in West Sacramento (lived there till I was 24 — it was such a small town in those days), but now live in Sacramento — just across the river. In fact, my dad was born in Bryte (which is now a part of the City of West Sacramento). So I have deep roots here. My parents both died very young – but I still feel close to them somehow here.
    Sacramento is a small town that isn’t a small town. The area I live in is near the zoo with older homes and giant trees and parks. And now all my 4 sisters and their families live here again, as well. I sometimes drive by my childhood home and also the old highwater Victorian my dad was born in too. I have lived in these areas my whole life – and although I have traveled, it will always be home.

    Reply
  66. M

    hi, corey,
    travel safely!
    funny about living where you were born. in 1971, after school and the army, etc, i moved to an apartment in brooklyn which was one flight up from the office of the dr. who delivered me–he and his brothers-in-law built the building, too, as an investment!
    when my parents saw the building, they laughed like fools. and i was there for 26 years. i miss now chic and famous park slope, and my views of the harbor, but not the bleak winters. i love bradenton, where i am now, but not all of florida. m

    Reply

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