USAFinn - I'm also struggling with the concept of home - I've got about four 'homes' at the moment which is very confusing in conversations.

But why can't you have more then one 'home' - who says home has to be one place or one person or one country?

Give me friends or give me death - give me friends and I'll show you home. Maybe thats the key - belonging everywhere and no where at the same time?

I can strongly relate to memory and nostalgia leading to the illusion of home. Thx for using those explicit words.

But I can't agree with home depending on people. There are explicit words for that: friends, family, community... I wouldn't restrict home to these terms. How many friends do you have to have? How integrated do you have to be in a community? ... in order to call a place a home - does that mean some people have more of a home than others? ... and that some can even be homeless? If that is so - I would argue against the importance of having a home.

For me, home was where my unsure future lay. Thats also how I defined "having lived somewhere": I've lived somewhere if I stayed there, and didn't have a concrete idea about if I was going somewhere after.

Sleeping at a hotel, doesn't make it your home, if you know you will be going somewhere(back home) afterwards. But I've lived in an apartment for only a month, and it was my home, because I thought I was going to stay there for years to come - even though it didn't turn out to be so.
If you constantly move to places, where you definitely know, you will leave again... then I guess you don't have a home, unless you think of a place that you want to go back to as your home(in that case you're on an extended trip).
What also might happen, is that you move to a place, and stay so long, that you decide not to return to where you came from; in that moment, when you decide to stay there, it becomes your home, even if you've already lived there quite some time.

I've also been homeless - according to my definition. I've lived in places where I knew I wouldn't stay, and was also aware, that I would not be returning to my previous home. I didn't like that time, but luckily it lasted only 2 yrs. During that time, I wasn't sure of where I wanted my home to be, so I managed to accept my homelessness, rather than choose a home too rashly.

I have a home now, and who knows, I might stay here for a very long time. I'll definitely move out when I marry(which I hopefully will), as this apartment would be too small for a family. But thank god, that lies so far in the future(I'm 20) that I don't think much about it - thus not disturbing my feelings of home in any way. But as to studying in another place and finding a job... of course, it is not likely(regarding my past) that I will stay here long enough for my wife to lure me out of my home, but the possibility does exist(that I finish studying and find a job that suits me in the same city), and I'm willing to take the chance inorder to call this place my home... and if I do move "prematurely"(again) I will have no trouble making a new home for me somewhere else - alas, I should have enough practice by now : )

I totally agree! When I was in Finland, I was homesick for the US (and when I was in the US I'd get homesick for Finland..go figure), my aunt told me the very same thing "home is where the heart is." and I replied "Well my heart isn't here." She answered, "So are you dead? How can you live without your heart? *insert laughter here*" It was funny in context, but it could sound kind of mean out of context.

My mom says that "home is where your stuff is," which I guess would be true, but I feel like "home" is where the people who you love/love you are. I'm kind of struggling with the same issue of "home" at the moment too...

I completely agree. For me home is not where the heart is. For instance, when I was little, every time something would go wrong, or I'd get upset, I'd always want to go home. Which for me was whichever place we lived before where we were. In college all I wanted to do was move back to Texas. My heart was there. Now that I am back, my heart is still at school, but also in Thailand, England, and all places I grew up.. it's frustrating!!!!!!! I want to go back to all those places.. but I feel that if I do, my heart will only change and make me miss some other home I once had.

^^^^^^ *AGREES WITH ABOVE* ^^^^^^

yeah but that man just had to find some friends in his own town, own country which is about too many times easier than for people like us...he probably found friends with similar values and background really soon and lived happily. sorry..:P kinda negative here but seriously..:P

It was powerful to me see that the person who's woken up from a coma was as explicit as "Give me friends, or give me death." Maybe human beings are not meant to be alone.

Nice post. I think you are pretty right about what you say about memories and the fact that home is where you feel safe and loved, and isn't necessarily a physical place (country for example).

Good post. I agree. I think home is not so important so long as you have people around you who you can share your past/present/future with.