Arvid Huisman’s first home was the tiny house on his grandparents’ farm west of Titonka. After his father returned from military duty in Europe, his parents set up housekeeping in the small structure, affectionately called “the little house.”
Sept/Oct 2024 (Volume 16, Issue 5)
By Arvid Huisman
Few words evoke the deep feelings that the term “home” does. Prose, poetry, songs and paintings have been created to honor the sentiments of home.
The old adage, “Home is where the heart is,” holds especially true for me. I’ve moved often and have called many places “home” at one time or another. Saint Francies de Sales advised, “Bloom where you are planted” and I have done so … many times.
I have lived in 13 different communities in my lifetime and have warm memories of each of them. However, when Julie and I moved to West Des Moines eight years ago I told her, “If you ever hear me say the word ‘move’ please hit me … hard.” I’m tired of moving.
When the term “home” is used to define the area in which one spent his or her childhood, I call Hamilton County in north central Iowa “home.” However, after 14 years in northwest Iowa, Sioux City had become “home.” A subsequent dozen years in Creston made that community home, too.
Cindy and I moved to Ankeny nearly 25 years ago and after her passing I moved to Blairsburg where I remarried and resided until Julie could retire. Blairsburg already felt like home because it was where I attended high school.
I had enjoyed life with Cindy in Ankeny but when Julie and I considered a retirement community we settled on the West Des Moines-Waukee area. We love it here and I hope this was my last move. This is home now.
Because home is where the heart is, one can have more than one “home.”
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