Have you ever counted up the total number of places you’ve lived? We did this again recently and came up with 27 between us (16 for Laurie and 11 for Susan). What we noticed is how strong the memories of our childhood homes remain, even if we lived there for only a short time. Most of us live in one or more places much longer as adults, but memories of later homes seem to be less visceral, less intense. We hope you’ll tap into those vivid recollections of your childhood home, and send them to us. We are happy to offer gentle editing, or to interview you if that’s more your style. Send your memories, stories, comments, or questions to childhoodhomestories@gmail.com.

If you’re in the mood to read about moving around, Meghan Daum’s memoir, Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House, is a charismatic and funny exploration of her passion for dwellings, and eventually for home ownership. A childhood move from Austin, TX, to Ridgewood, NJ, was an early cultural shock, followed by life in a dorm at a college chosen because Daum thought it would facilitate her ultimate goal: to live in a pre-war Manhattan apartment. After attaining that goal and beginning a successful writing career, she developed what she calls a “full-blown real estate obsession." It propelled her through many more moves into many more rented places, the obsession and the rentals described in fascinating detail. (We loved reading about one of her writing assignments which involved going back to her childhood home and seeing how much it had or hadn’t changed.)

In the final third of the book Daum chronicles her desperate search for a house she could afford (barely) to buy at the height of a real estate boom, and her sometimes triumphant, sometimes deflating purchase of a 900-square-foot bungalow in Los Angeles she bought for “four times the money my parents had paid for the two-story, four bedroom house I grew up in.” Ultimately, how Daum changes the house and how the house changes her life add up to a larger exploration of our earnest and often complicated human investment in where we live.

All the best,

Laurie and Susan