Home is Okinawa, Okinawa is home. Before I ever went to Okinawa, I lived in Texas (where I was born), Rhode Island (when I was too young to remember), Virginia (cold), and also California. My idea of home in the first half of my life was based on where I was living, where my parents were, and which place I was most familiar/comfortable with. Before 2006 that was 29 Palms, California: a small town with a Marine Corps Base in the middle of nowhere, a two-hour drive through sand to reach any modest glimpse of civilization. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. When my parents told me we were moving I wasn’t very enthusiastic. I was ten years old, I thought California was my entire life.
I lived in Okinawa longer than any other place I’ve ever been to. It’s odd calling it home in 2018 because there’s not a whole lot left for me there. Everyone I knew who lived there is gone, replaced by the next wave of military families to come in and perpetuate the PCS cycle (that’s permanent change of station). The on-base house I grew up in belongs to someone else now. Every year that goes by adds new urban development that brings it further away from the quaint little island hideaway I knew it as when I first arrived there. I’m nostalgic more for the time than a place I may never see again.
From 10 to 20, I became who I am today because of things I experienced growing up on Okinawa. I feel like the island was a critical part of my formative years, and a huge influence on my identity as a person. Home to me now is the sense of self I carry around with me. It’s the product of the people, places, and experiences that inform who I am at that moment in time. And it’s why, despite my time in San Antonio and now Eugene, I still consider Okinawa my home.
Thank you for sharing more about yourself! I really enjoyed reading this. You have a really unique life story that I am sure was challenging at times but you have had experiences that I am sure many (me) are envious of. I would love to hear more about the culture in Okinawa and how you found your place within it sometime or perhaps how you ultimately ended up here in Eugene at the UO.
I was curious about your time living in Japan ever since we did the activity where we placed “home” on a map. I would love to hear more about this chapter of your life; what school was like in Okinawa, and what kind of home was the on-base house you lived in for 10 years?
I really enjoyed your blog post. It was cool to hear you idea and experiences of home because they are so different from mine. I have lived in Bend, Oregon my entire life until I moved away to college. My idea of home is one place and so it was interesting to hear from someone who has such unique and different perspective. I would love to know more about living in Okinawa and what that was like. When you first moved was it hard adjusting? What was your experience like coming back to the US? Anyways really enjoyed reading this post.
I really enjoyed reading about your idea of home. It sounds like your idea of home is pretty similar with Jeannette’s from the Glass Castle. I like how you explain home as your sense of self that you’ve developed through relationships and experiences. I would have to agree with this idea of home. I find myself at home whenever I am with people I love or when I think back to fond memories.
Thanks for sharing this with us 🙂
One question I have is… what is your favorite memory from the island?
To start I would I like to say that I think it is pretty crazy that two of us in this 30 person class were both in military families and both stationed in 29 palms yet we have had completely different experiences in life. My time moving from city to city as a Marine Corps brat started when I was born and didn’t end until the summer before my freshman year in high school. Unlike your experience, my family was never stationed to the same base for more than three consecutive years. I did, however, live in 29 palms three times and though I don’t consider it my home, my dad still lives there and I visit often with fond memories of my experiences in that podunk town. In efforts to keep this response short, I will simply say that I find our shared experience has shaped us in two separate ways, you were able to find your home in Okinawa, while I still search for my home.
Really connect with this experience of home and its so nice to hear about someone else who is far away from home because its a strange experience and it feels good to hear about from someone else. Didn’t realize before I talked to you but talking about home with people whose experience of it is very different from yours can feel isolating, but talking to you and reading this blog post feels good and reassuring in a way.