What does "Coming Home" mean to you?

"Coming Home" holds great significance to me this year. My husband and I will be moving from the US to Thailand in the middle of January. In one sense, our move to Thailand is a "Coming Home" for me, as I was born in Thailand and lived in Southeast Asia until I turned 18. In another sense, "Home" is going to mean something totally different as we will be moving 1/2 a world away from our 2 adult kids. For the first time, neither one will be living in the same residence as us - we will be true Empty Nesters! During the month of January, we will be apartment hunting, looking for a new home for just the 2 of us - in a city that is larger than anywhere we have ever lived as a couple. We will be moving out of the natural beauty of Big Sky Montana and into the oh-so-populated and crowded city of Bangkok. We are excited about this move, but know that there will be some major changes.

 

alot same as you sara. I came to digiscraptiong after finding 12 days of christmas by Mad Genius think back in 08 or 09. I have always been a collector of info, dates in time, we did this or that. reference material, graphics (to bad my atari black and white ones never made it from putting in tiny4 format.) vinatge everything, office supply, old cookbooks, recipes, sewing patterns, notions. I got photoshop to make little name or thank you non animated gif, for glitter graphics before doing layouts. MrsPeel invited me here to the pad, when gopixel closed... to the 12 days of christmas, aj event... in 2014. I was hooked. I felt so welcomed here.. Everyone so helpful (hmmm not on what to group together on a 1 tb usb drive..haha) and when i complain about myself, I am forgiven for typing my mood,
I am hoping to coming home, to give me a more postive outlook, not seeing all in bad, or my past all sorrow, for it never be again

 

Coming Home is all about re-finding my creativity, and carving out the time to enjoy this hobby. I'm so grateful for this home we have created here!

 

Coming home means so many things in my head. But mainly I think we have found a lovely home here in Tampa and so many of our people are coming to visit this year and I am so eager to document that throughout the year. Also I turn 50 and I just can't wait for that and all the fun it will bring.

 

I totally agree with you Sara - Coming home = re-discovering my love of scrapping. Bring it on!!

 

For me, coming home means being in a place where I can be who I am and where I am accepted for who I am.

 

Coming home means to me re affirming where I came from, my family and who I am. I love telling stories and remembering too

 

Coming Home to me is TOOOOO many things.. we Sarita (DD) and I have 3 home-ish, Brazil- Argentina and London, so feeling about home are complicated.... but in the scrapping sense?
Probably a mixture of what you all have mentioned....
Like you Sara, I started because I wanted to tell Sarita the family history, and how great her dad was with her and with me before he was diagnosed, so the story was. my main intention. I used to journal a lot, with CT play sometimes we don't find much time (even with the page design, I feel obsessively compelled to make pages that will end their purpose and forget a bit about the story telling)
Finding creativity back from the heart, and also get back to be more around The Pad's Family I absolutely ADORE. This community has been for (10 years in February!!!!!) me a life saver, inspirational in more than the scrapping, I have solid friendship with many people I have met in person, and as solid to other whom I have not yet met in person.... I think our hobby, our art is a very very special one, combining creativity with family history and the art journal of telling who we are, what we feel....it is a powerful thing.
It literally saved my life after my operations failed, scrapping, then came the human side, that also rescued me a few times
SO joyful to be sharing this time of the year with you all.....!!!!!!!!
The Pads is most definitely home to me, hopefully my health will allow me to really come home and stay put this month and onwards!!!!!

 

I asked Mr Google what "coming home" means and this is what I found:
To return to one's home after time away from it.

Last year that is exactly what happened to me when our home was flooded and we could not repair it. We moved back to the town I grew up in for three months and then moved into our new home in a town in an area where my ancestors settled when they came to Australia. During MOC you may see a page about the graves I took photos of recently.

I do not need to "come home" to scrapbooking as I have been creating regularly now for 16 years. But in a sense I have "come home" to The Lily Pad as last year (2022) I had not been very active here.

 

Coming home for me is that secure feeling I get when I am with the people I love. It's not necessarily the house we live in... it's where we are together.

Scrapping is my creative outlet to record the memories so I can capture that homely feeling

 

I'm rediscovering who I am at the moment. The new technology my teenagers are using, and them learning more about managing their own conditions mean that I'm no-longer full-on 24/7 caring. I have space now in between the caring tasks where I'm feeling a bit lost. Finding who I am outside of being a carer is going to be quite a journey. Returning to me and the things I was made for, and the things that bring me joy.

Scrapbooking has always been about the stories. My husband is an avid photographer (something my girls have inherited) and sitting through photo albums not knowing the who, where, why and what made me learn to scrapbook. I can tell the stories that the photos don't tell, or can't tell. I can bring the personality and character of the people and places alive through element choices, papers and journaling. And by focusing on a story or stories I can whittle the folder of 200 or more photos of one event down to something more manageable and enjoyable for people to view.

 

Agree 100% with this and couldn’t have said it any better if I tried. Home doesn’t necessarily mean a physical place to me but a feeling of warmth, acceptance, inclusion etc.

 

Exactly the same for me! That's why I started scrapbooking 23 years ago and continue this day even though the method has changed

 

For me, coming home means re-discovering the joy of this hobby I've loved for decades. The past few years have taught me to rest more and enjoy the simplicity in every day. I want to continue documenting not just the story behind the photos I scrapbook, but my own thoughts in the moment and what those images mean to me.

 

Coming home is such a great metaphor for scrapping because it is the hobby that I always come back to even if I need to take a break to deal with life crises for a while. And the community here welcomes us all back with open arms no matter where we are in our journey.

 

I'm so happy to participate again this year in MOC. Last year was my first time. Although I had high hopes of keeping up on scrapbooking after the month was over, life got the best of me, and I have done much at all since last year. Years and years ago, I had "a shop" that I felt was home. I was very active in the forms and challenges. Once they closed, I felt so lost and have been since. I dabble here and there over the years but lost the excitement of challenges and forms conversation. Really hoping that doing this MOC again this year will help me to get more involved and respark the excitement of a digital home.

 

For me, coming home is really a return to scrapbooking more. I have a high-risk kiddo so the past few years have been a lot less *leaving* our home. With that comes less stories for his scrapbook. Before he was born, my mom and I would travel to state parks on her school breaks and I'd fill albums with a week of photos. I'd like to start including myself a bit more in memory keeping again.

 

Coming home? I've never left. TLP is my digi home.

I took the liberty to collect the little houses and quotes found in TLP Newsletters and came up with a cover page for my MOC layouts. Hoping I didn't miss any. And if there will be more added, I can build up my little community:

 

The last couple of years have been pretty tough for my family. My husband had a cancer diagnosis with chemo and surgery to remove his stomach. Then both daughters had genetic testing and also have the gene for this hereditary disease and have started their paths to be cancer free as well. On that path, my youngest daughter discovered that she already had the cancer and had her stomach removed just 3 months after the birth of her baby, Molly. (Molly has been the subject of my scrapping lately.) Molly herself was born 6 weeks early and gave us all quite the scare, but she is doing great. And now it's my turn. I was diagnosis with acute kidney failure on Christmas Eve and spend 4 days in the hospital over the holidays. I'm now on the mend.

But all of this left me wondering about scrapping and I even thought about quitting the few Creative Teams that I'm on. I've been having trouble keeping deadlines straight and wondering if it's all worth it. I feel like I'm not doing my part, but right now it's the best I can do. I love scrapping and creating and it has been a good source of therapy for me during all of this.

So I guess "coming home" will mean trying to be a bit more active here and see how that goes.