I'm 55 and still live in my childhood home
Shawn Robertson, 55, has lived in the same home in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, his whole life.
He has experienced major milestones, both good and bad, while living in that house.
While he says staying put has its perks, he also feels he might be ready for a change.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shawn Robertson, a 55-year-old from Tsawwassen, British Columbia. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm 55, and I've lived in one house my entire life. I've never met anyone else who has lived in the same house for as long as I have.
My parents originally lived in Richmond in British Columbia, Canada, and when they started thinking about adopting a child — me — they decided they needed to be in a more rural setting.
The little town of Tsawwassen fit that bill. It had a good school system and was vibrant and up-and-coming. So, in late 1968, they purchased the land and built the house. It was finished in the summer of 1969.
The house is a very German-looking style. Dad was Scottish, but I think he just liked the look of it. There's brick on the bottom frontage and stucco with what used to be dark brown trim. It's a double-story building with five bedrooms and a den.
I loved growing up in this house
After adopting me, my parents brought me home from the hospital at the end of September 1969. The house would have been big for us — back then, it was just two adults and a tiny baby. My older brother John was 20 and had already left home.
I was more or less an only child, so I had free rein of the house. It's shaped like a U with this big porch in the center, and playing out there was every kid's dream. I remember whipping around on all sorts of different toys and bikes. There was a fairly big backyard, too, so there was always room to run around.
Around the time my wife Cori and I got engaged, both of my parents' health tanked. We decided we would live with them so that they could remain in the home they'd built for as long as possible.
I experienced many milestones in that house, both good and bad. When I married Cori, the house was the drop-off point for my groomsmen. We welcomed our four children while living there and navigated the passing of my dad in 2004 and my mom in 2015. Since then, we've had engagement parties for two of our kids at the house and hosted a baby shower for our granddaughter.
I know all of the house's quirks, and there's a deep familiarity there. We have friends who are still amazed when they find out we're still in the same place. Life doesn't usually allow that anymore, whether it's jobs, kids, or economic upheaval. I feel very fortunate for it.
I also consider a lot of the neighbors to be like family. Many of them have lived around us for easily 30 years or more. It's only recently that a few new ones are coming in, while the old ones are downsizing.
We've considered moving before, and still do sometimes
There have been times over the years when we would have moved if we could have. However, my wife and I felt that it was very important for our kids to have stability during their teenage years.
I retired in September 2024. I don't see our kids taking over the house because they are going in different directions. There's no specific set date to sell the house; however, we are actively looking at other places to live — possibly the Okanagan region of British Columbia.
If I'm being honest, I think it would make it easier on me if a developer demolished the house. It's always going to feel like our home, and if I drive by and see that it's changed, I think I'd feel saddened. On the other hand, if the house was gone entirely, I'd drive by and think, "We had a really nice life here." It would just be different.
We have so many memories in the house and such deep roots there. But the memories do come with you through photos and stories. The kids have fond memories of it, and that's all I need.
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