Shanghai

I don’t believe for one moment that Home is just one city.

At least, it has never been that way for me.  And I suspect that for many people – be it migrants, refugees, frequent travellers or even armchair travellers, Home is also not just one place, but many.

I have called multiple cities home, for various reasons – and all of them occupy a space in my heart and my memories, again for these various specific reasons.

Home can refer to the city I was born in – in this case there’s only one.

Home can also refer to those cities in which I have literally, made a home in, i.e. lived in for a couple of years, or even a couple of months…

Home also applies to those cities in which I have family, particularly close or immediate family.

And also those cities in which I have very close friends – friends who have been my family in times of need.

And naturally, the city – if one happens to be separated from one’s beloved for various reasons or another – where the Beloved is.

Home is also those cities in which I have found love, or have had a formative experience that changed me forever; where I have found myself, in other words.

And cities with which I feel an enormous amount of resonance, perhaps because I have grown up reading books set in that city, or watched TV programmes set in that city, or because I simply feel immediately at home in that city.  I feel comfortable, and accepted.

Home is also aspirational, by which I mean those cities I dream of making my home, whether or not I ever do.

And home could be those cities (or places) that you originate from, by way of your parents or grandparents – your ancestral hometown.

So how many cities/places do I call Home?  Let me list them all.

Singapore… London… New York… San Francisco Bay Area… Toronto… Paris… Shanghai… Dubai… Hamburg… Berlin… Venice… Jakarta… Xiamen… Quanzhou… Fuzhou…

How many cities/places do you call Home?  What other definitions of Home are there?

Singapore

London