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StoryHelix, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald Season 1 Episode 21

This community member talks about what home should feel like.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

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 You're listening to StoryHelix, intertwining
 stories past, present and not yet imagined
 
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 in Lane County, Oregon. What's
 up, earthlings? I'm Leah Velez and
 
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 I'll be your host. The stories that
 follow our raw footage. So let's open
 
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 up our our nuggets and give these
 community submitted stories a listen. 
 
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I've lived here  my entire life. I was born
 here. My family has lived in Eugene
 
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 ever since I could remember. So
 I think they chose this place because,
 
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 I don't know, it's a good
 place to be and it rains a lot.
 
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 I like the rain. There's a
 lot of trees and the air is
 
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 really clean and we don't have a
 lot of like overpopulation and it's not really
 
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 overpopulated and it's not like the cheapest
 place to live, but it's also not
 
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 the most expensive place to live.
 So I think that was a really big
 
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 factor for my family. But they've
 just always lived here, so. I struggled
 
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 a lot with my relationship with my
 mother after she got married and living with
 
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 her. Her house did not feel
 like home and I just didn't feel at
 
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 home in general. But living with
 my grandparents is also kind of a struggle,
 
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 just because our apartment is so small
 and we're just so close to each
 
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 other constantly. We get into arguments
 a lot and it's really hard to feel
 
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 at home when it's like 90% fighting and
 yelling, 10% love and affection. I
 
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 don't know, I feel like love-- I feel like home is somewhere where
 
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 you can be comfortable and like in
 your own space, you feel nice,
 
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 you're not surrounded by people who just
 want to yell at you. So No,
 
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 I don't think so. My life
 definitely has not been easy. My
 
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 Dad left when I was really young. He's been in prison my life
 
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 and my mom kind of just threw
 me away because I told her I didn't
 
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 want to live in a house with
 her and her husband because her husband is
 
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 literally abusive and gave me so much
 PTSD. My grandparents mostly raised me and
 
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 made me who I am as a
 person. I sort of had to develop
 
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 my morals on my own, because
 nobody around me really has morals that I
 
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 see as correct. Like, they're all
 biased in some way and none of us
 
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 really have a valid opinion, because
 opinions aren't facts. But life is hard
 
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 and experiencing shitty things just makes life
 life. Like you can't just live your
 
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 life without something bad happening to you
 at least once. Something bad always happens
 
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 to everyone. Everything that I've endured
 and had to put up with makes up
 
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 who I am as a person,
 makes up how I act towards others,
 
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 makes up how I react towards things
 other people do. Everything I've experienced just
 
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 makes me me. Thanks for listening. You can find us wherever you listen
 
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 to your podcasts. If you've got
 your own Lane County story to tell,
 
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 we'd love to hear it at StoryHelix Dot WordCrafters dot org.
 
  

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