When I left my parent’s place and got a place of my own (in 2013), there were all these ideas I had that now seem kinda quaint in hindsight. One thing that stands out was how I wanted to get the same coffee cups that were used in local kopitiams. These are cheap and ubiquitous. I think looking back, I wanted something that felt distinctly different from the elements that I was used to thinking of home (meaning my parents’). But another decade later, I’ve spent enough time in ‘exile’ that now I’m eager to develop my own sense of cozy home which might be in many ways similar to my parents’ ideas. I’m even happy to deliberately emulate or mirror some elements, though I also expect to have elements that are more distinctively my own.

I think lots of things are like this. What comes to mind for you?