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November: Homesickness
In Sweetgrass Basket, Sarah is overwhelmed with homesickness. Have you ever been homesick? How did you deal with it?
15 comments:
I miss people and pets more than places, I think.
I sometimes STILL get profoundly homesick for my childhood, but I suppose that's nostalgia.
I don't know that I've ever identified homesickness as simply missing a place. To me homesickness is more akin to missing the soul of the place, be that people, or pets, or that one dish you could only get at that one dirty spoon. Amplified with the loneliness that often accompanies homesickness and you have a very special tear-inducing combo.
So yeah. I've been homesick. It gets better the longer you are away. At my most homesick, my blog was the most alive. So was my phone bill. I was desperately holding onto the past, not quite sure how to go forward. Eventually, I just did.
Homesickness to me has always meant missing "My House" or a place where I have lived..."I am homesick for West Virginia".....
I miss people and pets more than places, though.
I'm writing about a homesick character right now, and I've taken a break for a few minutes as I was getting too emotional. It's one of the saddest feelings. Practically unsoothable.
Homesickness? I was cursed with it as a kid. I could barely handle sleepovers. How did I handle it? Um... not very well. I just turned quiet and sad and I couldn't think about anything but my own bed and my own room.
Here's the ultimate story of homesickness.
I was supposed to spend the summer working as a counselor in training at an arts camp in Michigan. So my mom drove me there (about 10 hours from Toronto). The whole way, I had this building feeling that I really, REALLY didn't want to spend the whole summer away from home, and that the idea was actually the worst idea ever in the world. Did I say anything? No. We just drove and drove.
Finally we arrived at the motel in Grand Rapids where my mom was going to spend the night after dropping me at camp. After we checked in, I told her I didn't want to stay.
Most moms would have freaked out and said, "You're staying and that's it!" Or "Why didn't you say something 8 hours ago you crazy kid?" My mom? She just got back in the car with me and we drove home. She is the best mom ever. That's compassion.
I had never been homesick until I went to college, probably because, before then, I had never been away from home long enough to miss it, and the homesickness I experienced was overshadowed by the excitement of new experiences. Consequently, developing the character of Sarah in Sweetgrass was challenging. How could I possibly understand the emptiness and fear that so many Indian children felt, being so far away from home with few, if any, opportunities for contact with family and, in most cases, little hope of returning home! My husband’s Aunt Margaret provided the inspiration for Sarah. When I asked her for one word that would describe her experience at the Carlisle Indian School, her answer was “homesick.” She was sent to Carlisle (Pennsylvania) when she was about 12. When Carlisle closed in 1918, she was sent to the Haskell Institute in Kansas and did not return home until she was an adult. Few of us could relate to that.
I just can't imagine, Marlene.
I have homesickness for friends and climate. I did live in Korea and Puerto Rico a year each. Homesickness kind of becomes a partner that's just beside you.
I am homesick RIGHT NOW. Homesick for the Farm, which is like a distant foreign country during the winter because I must brave two snowy mountain passes to get to it, and an ogre.
I am homesick for summer.
I understand missing a place. Right now I am traveling and will be away from home until almost Christmas. I miss my pillows and my quiet life-style. But I don't think I would say I am homesick. If you are homesick, I think it truly interferes with your ability to be happy. I'm currently in Arizona visiting with one son and heading to New Zealand tomorrow to spend a few weeks with the other son. On the way I stop in Samoa for a couple days. I'm happy (but I still miss my pillows.)
I more miss people, then places. Though I do miss going to regular school, but the school program that I am doing works. Normal School wouldn't work as well. I know that I am going to miss things, but I realize that I will see them again.
What Jackie said.
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