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Do you live where you belong?
This was a good poll. Lots of interesting comments.
I'm a qualified yes. I love my home and my community in Montreal and my second home in Richmond the Eastern Townships, but I'm a settler on indigenous land, and we haven't figured out how that can be a just situation yet.
I'm also far from my parents and brothers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and my extended family in New Jersey.
And I'm *very* far from my father's and grandfather's and great-grandfather's birthplace in Jerusalem. I've only visited once.
I'm far from their origins in Athens, Crete, and Greek-speaking Asia Minor.
As well as my mother's family's origins in Ireland, Wales, England, The Netherlands, and Germany.
I feel like I have set down roots here in Montreal in these last 20 years, but I have homes too many other places to not feel restless.
I really loved this book when I read it. It's a great study of what it means to belong somewhere.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20030213W/This_is_where_you_belong?edition=key%3A/books/OL27210260M
Deciding where you live on this planet is a huge privilege. Most people don't get to choose. The globe isn't a Tinder app they can swipe left and right on.
I'm glad I and my kids have a lot of optionality, but that comes with some pressure to make the right decisions.
The advice I gave my 17-year-old daughter is this: keep a base here in Montreal, and visit other places as much as you can. Live in them temporarily for months or even years. But keep this place as your home.
My kids both grew up here their entire lives. I feel like that was a big gift we gave them. I hope they know how important it is to keep it, and I hope they never feel stifled by it.