Homesick

“I'm homesick for the first time ever and it won't go away. I've been living away from home for 6 years now. It just hit me one day. My family all still lives in Tennessee and I'm starting to feel like I'm missing out on family stuff, but I still think Montana is the last best place. It'd be hard to move. How do you deal with homesickness?”

“I hear you.
That is why I moved back from TN to be nearer my family. Family is important.
I lasted about 9 years before I felt the pull back home.”

“I go thru this alot as I live about 4hrs from my closest family. I try to call them all and talk to them for a bit. That seems to help me.”

“Well, suddenly finding myself alone, I have to ask myself where home is anymore.

I guess for me, the hills of East TN are home now. Everyone deals with it differently. I was moved around so much as a kid (my father was a developer and we moved from project to project) that I was feeling lost until (A) I moved to Arkansas and found a new family then (B) moved to East TN and felt this is where I truly needed to be.

Just six weeks ago, I was on my way back to Arkansas. Now, it is clear that would have been a friggin catastrophe. So, I would say be where you are the most comfortable.”

“I get homesick once in a while,it's been a long time since I saw my family. [about 6 years] I talk to them all the time on the phone.

living away from them for what? 4,000 miles or so makes this a little bit more difficult. I can't visit every time I feel like it.
Anyway, like I said, if I feel homesick I call my parents, my sisters, my friends.”

“chili, where do your kids live now?
Maybe somewhere within a few hours of them is where you might need to be?

East TN does sure have a lot to offer hiking wise! I loved living in Knoxville, but it was just to lonely for me after a few years.”

“Home is where you make it.

I love living out west and feel very much at home here, even though i miss the TN hills, this is my home now.”

“I'm loving all the TN connections! :) I'm hoping to get a new (furloughed) job by next summer. That way maybe I'd be able to spend a few months in Tennessee and still get my Montana fix. If that doesn't happen I might just move back permanently.”

“Never had it and certainly don't miss it. Gone during college but left for good in '93 and never looked back. never looked back anywhere I lived. I leave when I'm ready to. No regrets.”

“I do tend to miss my grandparnets and my cousins a lot back in California. Some times it's worse then other times but I try to be happy where ever I am.”

“

So, I would say be where you are the most comfortable.”
chili

You got that right. I went through the blues years ago. After returning to the Republic of Panama from my Mother's funeral, I wondered, "Where is home?" No longer could I return to the days of my youth on the south side of Chicago. The neighborhood had changed and I would be killed, most likely.

The heat and the humidity hit me hard at Panama's airport like never before, and during the entire taxi ride to my apartment in the Canal Zone. But, as I entered my apartment, I realized that "Home is where one can hang their hat, relax and feel comfortable." I was home!

Now, I have a second home. It is when I can enter my tent, where I do feel comfortable, and get a good nights sleep, in almost any weather.
last edited: 9/18/06 2:13:44 PM”

““chili, where do your kids live now?
Maybe somewhere within a few hours of them is where you might need to be?

East TN does sure have a lot to offer hiking wise! I loved living in Knoxville, but it was just to lonely for me after a few years.”
StoveStomper
1:48:39 PM

The kids live in Parsons, about 300 miles.

My son will hopefully be at UT in the fall of '08. Brittany will be 14 then. I wish I was closer, but in a few years I might be wanting them to go home, LOL.

No, given present circumstances, I am where I need to be.”

“Good! :-)”

“I miss D.C., its only 50-60 miles but I just don't get there often enough.

Time to hook up with the D.C. people for a drink!

I'll be there next week for a night out!”

“Ah, the Irish Pub.”

“i'm outta commision for a while. Haven't had a drink in a week or so and have no desire. My only desire is to sleeeeeeeeppppppppp”

“The Dubliner!!”

“Hear that BM...been doing the 3 and 4 hour nights (if that) for a week now. I left home at 18, never had a desire to go back.”

“'Home is where when you have to go there they have to take you in.'

Robert Frost.

My daughter called from Korea last Thursday and said she wished I could still hop in my car and drive up to see her. Got a little misty.

She was studying in Sudbury, northern Ontario and I would drive up 7½ hrs on Saturday, take her out to dinner and drive back on Sunday.

I miss her terribly.”

“Trust me, don't move back to TN. I grew up in east Tennessee. In 1985 (age 30) I moved to Oregon for 13 years, then from there moved to Colorado for 7 years. In 2005 I got a wild idea up my rear-end and thought I wanted to be back in TN for a while. My dad still lives here, as do a sister and my 94 year old grandmother. I also have family in Georgia and Alabama (daughter and granddaughter in AL).

All I can say is, I hate it here. The humidity kills me and I miss the western mountains sooo much! Plus all the family stuff is driving me nuts (except for my daughter and granddaughter).

I will be moving back to Colorado next summer - it's definitely the place I think of as "home."”

“wherever you go there you are.”