Home is Where the Heart is

Once upon a time, a young girl who had never stayed in one place long enough to call home, wished with all her heart for a stable, lovely house.

Years later the universe answered the impossible dream of her heart, and not only does she live in her own remarkable home, but with her husband Bill and their business ArchiBlox, Christine now lives out her life's purpose: giving beautiful, sustainable and affordable homes to others…

"Going back into my childhood, I very much moved around a lot. I had a really lovely family, my dad was gorgeous and my mum was gorgeous. They were childhood sweethearts. My mum had met my dad when she was 16 and she fell pregnant when she was 19. They had no money and no proper support and they had the world against them. So they did the best that they could do.

My mum and dad were together for 10 years and separated when I was three. I don't really quite remember it, but my sister was 7, so she remembers it a lot more than I do.

To cut a long story short, my mum took a little while to find her feet in terms of relationships, so we moved around quite a lot. I had probably lived in about 13 houses growing up. I always felt safe and secure in my situation though, which is good. But at the same time, I was cruising the streets of Brighton by myself. I'd have situations where I'd be hanging out at the carpark of Safeway's, chatting to these awesome guys that you know, probably lived in the trash, and collected the trash. I was friends with the guys, and with the Lebanese girls who used to run the milk bar. I moved around a lot, didn't really have a proper home.

But I remember sort of fast forwarding to mum being in a different relationship and living in a flat. I used to go Brighton primary, and I loved Brighton primary. I was like king of the kids and I loved it, I had all these awesome friends. Then my parents though it was a good idea to send me to Lauriston. My mum just thought it was the right thing to do. So they sent me to Lauriston, but I didn't have the support network to understand how to be around people with so much money. So it was quite challenging.

I remember this one time being in the flat going

'All I want, all I want, is to live in a house'.

I just want to live in a house so I feel like I've got a stable roof over my head, so I could be in a house that, you know that felt a bit more full on than a flat.

It was a struggle living in a flat when you went to a school with girls that live in mansions, and all that sort of stuff.

And then I remember, I was in the bath upstairs at home, not that long ago. I sat in the bath and looked out the window, and I thought about all those things. And I thought 'Oh my god. All I wanted was a house.' And I looked at this beautiful home I'm living in, and I just felt so blessed, so lucky.

I absolutely love Bill, and I love my family and my home so much. And it's such a cool home too. And I love the McCorkell family and I feel really strong and supported through all that.

And anyway, I was sitting in the bath and then I just reflected and thought you know what, I know what my purpose is.

I know that I was meant to meet Bill.

Was meant to be part of ArchiBlox,

and was meant to create affordable housing and homes for people.

Because I remember saying that so loudly in myself, that I wanted a house so badly that it just feels like it resonated so much in my being. So I feel like my destiny is to be able to provide people with homes."

- Christine McCorkell

Life is about celebrating the little impossible miracles of finding our purpose, of fulfilling our deepest hearts. Celebrate your story on the Impossible Stories