So just to clarify, no, Orland Capote, the owner of this home, has not attempted to fly it away using hundreds if not thousands of balloons. But he has managed to do what Carl from Up did, which is to endure the continual growth of the city around him as highrises, apartments, and businesses continued to crowd in around his home, making it a much noisier and disruptive place to live. But this is his home, and while some might think that sentiment isn’t quite as useful as money, Orland has managed to keep himself in one place as the city has continued to expand around him. There’s something to be said about the dedication to one’s home, especially when there are memories and good times there that can’t be replaced by money. There’s no doubt that the city would love to get this home, tear it down, and use the space to house many other people or perhaps a business or two. But Capote isn’t selling, which is admirable to some and foolish to others. The truth is that one can’t buy personal memories no matter how hard they try, and that sentiment is what’s keeping him from moving on.
It’s likely that once Orland is gone, if there’s no one to save the home after him, then it might be allowed to crumble and become something else. But it’s easy to sit here and feel for the guy since a lot of us likely remember our childhood homes if we’re not still living in them. The amount of sentimentality that’s attached to a home that a person grew up in tends to vary since some people have good memories, others have mostly bad. Some were eager to leave home and didn’t want to go back, while others might have wanted to stay. The point is that things and people move on, they adapt, and they grow. Staying at home isn’t necessarily a bad thing since Capote has managed to hang on to his memories and has done what his parents wanted, which was to keep the home.
One thing about memories is that they tend to go with us no matter where we are, but it’s true that being able to stick around, to be where those memories were made, does help to strengthen them quite often. Orland is one of the lucky few that still has the home he grew up in and therefore has access to most of his memories, perhaps fond ones, that he wants to keep around. Since the passing of his mother and father over the years it’s understandable that he would want to hold onto his home, even if the city has continued to offer him a hefty price for the property. The sad thing is that if he did sell, the property would be demolished and added into the mass of construction that already apparently litters his yard from time to time. No matter how much progress doesn’t wait for anyone, or how much people want to preach that it’s time to move on, the petty way that a city can go about reinforcing this is hard to deal with at times. Some might say Orland is selfish for wanting to hold onto his home, but others would no doubt back him simply because letting go of something like one’s home is a bit tough.
The story of Up is a good reference for this since Carl spent the better part of his life in his home with Ellie, as they met in the dilapidated home when they were children and were eventually married and then moved into the house. Such memories aren’t hard to keep, but letting go of the home in which they were made is tough for anyone. Some people move on by telling themselves that a house is just a house, a place built from materials that can be replaced. It’s still tough to move on though, especially when every part of the house holds some special memory that’s been embedded in the walls, the floor, and every part of the house. It sounds insanely sentimental, but any one of us that has seen a house become a home through the transference of memories into the place we’ve called home understands.
Having watched a house come together from the foundation to the finishing touches I can sympathize with Orland when it comes to letting go of a home, since it’s unbelievably tough, not to mention painful at times to remember all the good times that came with the home. But it’s also easy to envy Capote since he still has his home and is still likely able to hear the echoes of joy and laughter, and whatever else came during his earliest years in the home. It’s not just sentiment really, it’s wanting to hold onto that lasting part of yourself that’s bound to a place where good memories were once formed.
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