More than One Place to Call Home | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: More than One Place to Call Home | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ann Marie Lindenmeyer
01/13/06
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After living in New England for 27 years of my life, I still refer to New Hampshire as ‘home.’ I’ve lived in Indiana for 8 ½ years, but am originally from New Hampshire. I miss the mountains, the ocean, and the bustling city of Boston, all activities I enjoyed as I grew up.

Indiana was so different for me when I moved here. I moved from a city with a population of about 125,000 to a small, rural town with a population of about 1,200. Cornfields replaced the tree-covered New Hampshire mountains, small lakes replaced the vast ocean, and Fort Wayne replaced Boston. My new home many years ago was nothing like the places I had grown accustomed to in New Hampshire.

I left family, friends, and familiarity for a new life and marriage. I was lonely in Indiana when I first arrived, lost in the differences. Living in a small town was not something I truly could understand for quite some time. I began my new life with high hopes. Many years later, those same high hopes turned to a difficult divorce. I faced a major decision, should I move back to New Hampshire or stay in Indiana.

If it weren’t for my son, I would’ve moved back to New Hampshire in a heartbeat. My decision was based from the division of parenting time that my ex-husband and myself would share. I could not bare the thought of my son not having regular contact with both of his parents since both of us sincerely wanted to be a full part of his life.

Though I struggled in my decision, I feel I am finally content where I am. My two daughters, older than my son and not my ex-husbands children, consider Indiana home. They moved here with me when they were five years old. Though they enjoy visiting family in New Hampshire every summer and enjoy camping in the mountains, they would miss the cornfields and the rural roads that seem to go on forever that are so prevalent in Indiana.

I have now remarried and am expecting a new child. There are things we may like to change, like buying a home, but those things would happen in Indiana, our home. I do know one thing is for sure, I am thankful for the path that led me to Indiana and to my previous difficult marriage. That path led me to Jesus Christ, and I am forever thankful I found my way home.

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