Have you ever heard the saying “a home away from home?” But what if there isn’t a
home to begin with?
Ten times junior Andrew Butter had to start over.
He knows the routine by now: move, start over, get comfortable in a home, be forced to
leave it all behind.
After moving so much, the question remains.
Where is home?
Andrew was one year old the first time he had to move; he went from Pleasanton Texas
to Dublin Texas. From then on, Andrew moved to live in Cedar park, Leander, Burnet, Wimberly,
Waco, and now Stephenville. Currently seventeen, Andrew has moved a total of ten times. It
was hard for Andrew to make long term connections with friends when he didn’t know how
much time he had left in the town. His father’s job is what caused the Butter family to move so much.
“We’re moving because of a new job offer,” Andrew’s dad Mathew Butter said.
Each time Andrew moved it came to Mr. Butter’s work. At this point Andrew had to
become used to the fact that he must move again. There was one town he really hoped would
end up being his forever home and never leave it.
“I really thought we were going to stay in Burnet Tx,” Andrew said, “That’s the one place
I truly believed was gonna be home.”
For some reason Burnet felt like a different town to Andrew. There he had the chance to
make good social connections with friends for the first time. But like always, they needed to
move somewhere else.
“We lived in Burnet for four years,” Andrew said.
There, he was able to find a group of friends that Andrew really enjoyed being around
because they made him feel like himself for the first time in a long time. He had finally found his
place in his world where change was very constant on a daily basis.
“My dad sat me and my sibling down in the room and told us we had to move again,”
Andrew said.
Andrew knew this was coming; it was inevitable at this point. He should be used to it
after moving so many times but he felt hurt by the situation.
“It just really impacted me because I knew I probably would never see them again,”
Andrew said.
Once again he had to pack up his things and move somewhere else. He left behind
people who were important to him—people who he connected with. Unlike this town where he
really wanted to stay, he moved to a place he didn’t see himself in.
“Pleasanton is the one town I’ve lived in that I was very eager to get out of,” Andrew
said.
Geographically, this town was a sandy place. The humidity paired with the abrasive
atmosphere didn’t match Andrew’s persona at all, so he couldn’t see himself living here for the
rest of his life. It didn’t feel at home at all.
“We’ve always come back to Stephenville every time we ran out of luck or when we
couldn’t afford rent,” Andrew said.
That tiny bit of familiarity brought Andrew comfort each time he came back to this town.
“I would say Stephenville is where I grew up,” Andrew said.
Kenneth “Chuck” Whisenant, Andrew’s grandpa, has been settled in Stephenville since
the late 1800s.
“My grandpa is someone I really cherish in this world,” Andrew said.
What Andrew likes about his grandpa is that he is the type of person to get things done
or in other words finish what he started. Chuck is someone who he admires. There’s a special
for him in Andrew’s heart.
“My parents are the first people I go to when I need some advice. They’ve helped us with
social connections or other things they’ve been through in their past, similarly to mine,” Andrew
said.
Andrew’s parents have helped him throughout his childhood as he moved from place to
place. In his family the little moments do really matter because those memories are what he
holds onto since his childhood.
“Without my family I would be lost in life; I’d be a person without any faith religiously,”
Andrew said.
Andrew appreciates his family. They are the steady hand that keep him going all these
years without a physical place to call home. So when asked Andrew answered the only true
answer there was.
“My home? It is wherever my family is,” Andrew said.
