Finding Home Through Music

Moving is hard. I’ve done it all my life; in unstable households living with my mom or the Coast Guard lifestyle with my dad, I’ve never sown my seeds in one place for too long. Your friends are more acquaintances, frequently stripping away the lifetime bonds you form from staying in a permanent home. Everywhere I’ve ever gone are merely houses I adopt as homes until I say goodbye and the walls I called a sanctuary become a fleeting memory. Additionally, moving is an arduous process; in living with my pops and his family, we’re a family of five with an extensive amount of shit we always have to pack every two years or so. It’s physically and mentally draining but it’s become somewhat of a routine for me. Moving in the middle of a pandemic is even harder.

Usually, whenever me and my family arrive in a new location, there’s always a period where we don’t immediately feel comfortable. As newcomers, the streets we once memorized at our last destination are wiped away in place of fresh explorations. Sometimes, it’d be a culture shock — my time in Homer, Alaska, a small, extremely local city next to their expansive Kenai Peninsula, is a great example. Other times, it’d be completely normal. As a kid who calls the South his home at large, in all of its distinct cultures, I’d feel a sense of familiarity and homeliness immediately. In the emergence of COVID-19, trying to call California my new home has…