Stitches: A Memoir Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

Art became my home. Not only did it give me back my voice, but art has given me everything I have wanted or needed since. (4.158)

Through finding his figurative home, David was able to find a literal one. When he became an illustrator and teacher, art started paying the rent. (And we're assuming he didn't have to live in a bathroom.)

Quote #8

There was only one thing to do to get that car moving again. I had to leave the safety of my house. I had to go outside. (5.29)

In David's dream, a remote-control car is his surrogate self. He sends the car out to explore the world for him, controlling it from behind closed doors. Only when he sneezes and accidentally drives it into the water is he forced to go out, interact with the world, and retrieve himself.

Quote #9

Suddenly I realized the building was the one where Grandma had been locked away. The old Central State Asylum. The figure was my mother, sweeping the path, clearing the way for me to follow. I didn't. (5.36-37)

Ultimately, your true home is inside you, but it can take many years to find the external geography to match the internal. Family can be a house of sorts—a construct to reside within—but that doesn't mean it's a home.