How to Say Goodbye to Your Childhood Home | Gary Sweeney | TEDxSanAntonio

A house is like a pictorial frame delimiting the lives lived within it, littered by the details of experience and age as the years pass. As city landscapes succumb to an ever-growing suburban development, humble homes that harken to a bygone era face the demise of increasing real estate values. For most people, bidding farewell to the dwelling they grew up in is bittersweet. One artist found solace grieving the loss of his modest beachside family home the only way he knew how.

Gary Sweeney appropriates commercial signage, his family photo archive, and found objects to create paintings, sculptures, and installations that humorously confront cultural topics and nostalgia. In his text-based compositions, he often uses linguistic puzzles and famous quotations to question the progress of society. The artist questions the patterns of social Darwinism and exposes the discrepancies and contradictions in current governmental, economic, and social milieux.

A house is like a pictorial frame delimiting the lives lived within it, littered by the details of experience and age as the years pass. As city landscapes succumb to an ever-growing suburban development, humble homes that harken to a bygone era face the demise of increasing real estate values. For most people, bidding farewell to the dwelling they grew up in is bittersweet. One artist found solace grieving the loss of his modest beachside family home the only way he knew how.

Gary Sweeney appropriates commercial signage, his family photo archive, and found objects to create paintings, sculptures, and installations that humorously confront cultural topics and nostalgia. In his text-based compositions, he often uses linguistic puzzles and famous quotations to question the progress of society. The artist questions the patterns of social Darwinism and exposes the discrepancies and contradictions in current governmental, economic, and social milieux.

[Dominic-Decoco]

20 years in this house. Been here since I was born. Tonight is the last night.

[TheIcyBandit]

For 17 years, I’ve been here. Everyone has a point in their life where they realize that their childhood is done and gone. My childhood is over. Goodbye.

[keelobrown]

Been a week and honestly it genuinely feels like ive lost a loved one, its so crippling, im so attached to my childhood home that i feel like my whole life is over not being there anymore. Ik it will get better but damn man, i knew it would hurt but not THIS much.

[codyshi]

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be live forwards." Just let that thought sink in.

[mr.kaplan]

Tonight’s the night. I’m moving. Spent all my 19 years of life in this home. Me and my family has been through many ups and downs in this house. Many memories infused into this house. My family seems to not care but I just can’t let this house go. I’m super attached to it. It feels like I’m letting go something that’s a part of me. Hopefully I can adjust . I’ll miss my childhood home. :(

[SillyTubereal]

Missing my old home after moving was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Normally when you're depressed or worried, you go home and spend time alone. But where do you go when the cause of your depression is loss of your home? I always hated that house because it was an apartment where I didn't have a garage, no backyard, no personal room of my own. But when we finally moved to a bigger house that had all the things I wanted, I just wanted to go back to my apartment I used to hate. This taught me to be grateful for the things I have even if I don't currently like them. This time I tried to be happy and enjoy each moment in my new home because I know I'm going to miss them when I move again.

[mmwoop]

So comforting to see comments from people going through the same thing. My grandparents have died. It’s been the only constant home throughout my life. I loved here while I cared for them. It’s now being sold. It really does feel like grief of a building

[Stickerbombsquad]

Tonight will be the last night that I'll spend in my childhood home. A good 32 years of my life filled so much happiness and tragedy combined. It still hasn't sunk in that I'll be saying goodbye to my favorite comfort zone. I will miss my comfort zone and how I wish I could hug the entire house.

[vengefulnoob]

Tonight is the last night, and I’ve been staying up as long as I can to put it off. I’ve lived here for 28 years, through some very, very hard times, and it’s always been here. I can’t quite describe how it feels to be leaving this house that I’ve left so many times before, for university and for work, but to know that this time it will be final.

I’m happy that I’m able to sleep in my same bed, and look at the same ceiling, and feel the same walls around me. I’m happy for all the memories past, and the memories I will build elsewhere, but this wasn’t just where I lived, it was where I felt I belonged. I know that in time, I will feel that again, and that this too shall pass.

It’s been good to see everyone else’s comments here; I thought I was losing my mind feeling like this. Turns out; It’s just a mark of having had a wonderful home.

To everyone who comes here in the future, you aren’t alone. Tell me about your home in the replies!

So long, Dunstall, I’ll miss you!

[Slimmx]

I want to comment on this because I’ve never told anyone this so why not start in the comment section of YouTube? I got a tattoo when I was 15, that same night I was having a mini panic attack in my room just thinking about how this tattoo will be on me forever! My heart was racing, hyperventilating, & I just wanted to go sleep in the bed with my mom for comfort but I didn’t want to worry her that I was regretting my tattoo. At the time I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was depressed over this tattoo for a good 4-5 months. I remember I couldn’t wait to go to school & because I had started clinging to one of my funny friends because he made me die of laughter & that was the only time I would forget about the tattoo & feel better. Later I did realize that it was the change from having nothing on my skin for 15 years to now having something on my skin forever that had made me feel so depressed. I’m now 23 & over the tattoo. Sometimes I even forget it’s there. I’m glad that I was able to experience that at a young age because I was able to realize a big trigger for me is “change.” I don’t like it at all. Even after HS graduation, I was depressed cause I missed seeing all my friends every day. I even missed seeing people in the hallways that I had never even spoken to in all those 4 years. We mourn & miss people, things, or routines because it’s a change. Death is one of the biggest changes a person can go through which is why it affects us mentally, emotionally & physically so much. Knowing you’ll never see someone again, in this life, is change. Knowing you’ll never hear someone’s voice again, in this life, is change. Anywho, I’m ranting… like I said I'm glad to have had that whole tattoo experience because it has taught me patience & helped me to keep not only my mind but my heart safe throughout these pivotal growing years.

[vidituniyal]

I left my house yesterday, last night i was sobbing all the time, for the memories which i was leaving behind, for my childhood and for everything that the house gave to me

[sophiapadilla]

Tonight is my last night in my childhood home… been here pretty much my whole life and I’m almost 21 now.. learned how to ride me bike in my neighborhood, rollerbladed and skateboarded for the first time here. Grew up with all the kids here my whole life.. who are still here… we met at this one spot every single morning and walked up to the school near my house from elementary to middle school.. I’m a very sentimental person and it’s barely set in i have to say goodbye… never step foot inside again… there have been so many bad and good memories here I don’t want to forget.. and i hope i dont… trying to think of something, a keepsake I can take with me from the house but i can’t think of anything. Anyway thank you house for making me the person I am today. I hope to revisit this video in a year and I really hope I’m in a different better place.

[chancer]

Got two more nights left—couldn’t sleep all through this past one and came here. Had to leave home first at fourteen for medical reasons and was devastated, but occasionally I was able to come back for a month or so at a time. Now it’s getting sold and I came home from college to visit for about five days. It’s sad because it feels like that part of my life (childhood) isn’t something I can go back to anymore, and it ended way too soon. My heart goes out to all of you, regardless of the circumstances. We’ll be okay.

[mayhembeading]

Writing this through tears that won't stop pouring down. My dad is selling the house I lived in for my entire life. It means so much because he adopted me as a small child. He provided for me out of choice. My mom passed away in the home after illness. My I didn't get to say goodbye, being 1200 miles away, and now the house...I hate grief. So homesick. This hurts so much.

[dolly-on-tv]

I will be quitting my childhood house, the house that I’ve always lived and grow up in, I will no longer cry in the room I used to cry in, no longer dance in the living room I used to dance in, no longer jump on that bed I used to jump on, no longer see the same view whenever I go on the balcony, no longer see my neighbors, no longer walk in town like I used to, everything will be over, and I just wanted to say thank you and goodbye to this home that I loved and cherished.

[Fleurmor_]

I’ve lived in this house for almost 5 years. My family planned to stay in this house for only about 2 to 3 years. At first, I hated being in this house as we moved here after leaving a much bigger home that actually belonged to my father’s side of the family and I was devastated at the thought of moving out of this home as I had many, mostly happy memories from living there. After moving into to our current house, I thought moving out of this house would be easier because I hated living here. Now that, we are our moving into a new home, and realising that tonight was our last night here in this HOME, that I realised that I should have been more grateful to this house because it’s hard to move out of this home and I’m crying while trying this.

[elenaw]

i thought i’d grow up to live and have my own family in this house.. and that’s what i thought made me sad about moving and losing it. it’s not that. it’s that my childhood is over, and i have to grow up.

[Rhynni]

It’s comforting knowing I’m not alone here. Tonight is my last night in my family home after 31 years, moving interstate to live with my husband tomorrow. Struggling a bit to let go, though, so many memories with family, and knowing I won’t be there anymore… but our bond and memories will last far beyond the temporary distance

[catherineebuen]

Im leaving in two weeks and seeing all the boxes around my house is genuinely tearing me apart, I didn’t think it would come so fast

[pinky]

first time sleeping in my new home and not in my childhood home


We miss it because it’s the house we have seen as a baby and I’m sad too, HAVENT really cried but tiny tears are coming out😞