Step into my life.

The other day I was playing around on google maps. It lead me to my home. The place where all the moments of my life come together. This place is where the most beautiful images were engrained into my mind. It’s the wonderful place that made me and made who I am. So far many of my favorite memories occurred in my home. Or as Miranda Lambert would say in “the house that built me”.

I picture the three stairs leading up to my front door. Through the maroon door my front entry, upon entering my little puppy Bear runs in from under the kitchen table. He runs around my feet anxiously begging for a piece of my attention. His huge fluffy tail twitching uncontrollably; his fur is as soft as a handful of flour. My mom’s standing in the kitchen ready to ask me about my day. My dad’s down in his room. The same room we would have interviews with him; usually invovling a bowl of candy and him asking us about school and church. I look into the living room where I once would rock Tay to sleep by softly singing my elementary choir songs to him. The same living room that held all our belongings from downstairs squished from wall to wall. In the middle of it all a queen mattress was on the floor, where Mandi and I slept for many weeks, while we waited for my dad to redesign the basement from the sewer back-up. In those days Mandi became my best friend.

There is screaming and running coming from the hallway; Taylor bursts around the corner with eyes the size of tennis balls with Jaden right on his tail. Teasing and taunting comes naturally to these two. No matter how hard you try you can’t get Jaden to leave Taylor alone or vice versa. I walk down the stairs; the very same ones I fell down when I was two, losing the only two teeth I had. I remember the play room that used to be under the stairs, and all the old dress ups I would play with and my mini kitchen. Then to my room, where at one point— I again—shared it with my older sister Mandi. I can still see the two twin beds squished in the room with little space between the beds. Now it is newly painted a dark turquoise blue with white trim. My bedspread lays on my bed; the evidence of many hours working with grandma.

In the backyard we have the gazebo, the tramp, and the jungle gym. I look at the new tramp and I remember the old one. It was the best! Oh my word, so bouncy you thought you could touch the sky. I picture the large hole in the center that slowly kept expanding as we climbed through it until the tramp had to be replaced. I imagine the snowstorms when me and Taylor would shovel the snow towards the tramp and pile it up along the frame until we had an igloo. Or when my dad and I would shovel all the snow into the back of my truck so I could have better traction haha. I imagine my childhood best friend Anna and our amazing forts in the jungle gym. We would haul all the biggest blankets out and cover all the walls and openings with blankets; then put up our sign “She-woman-men-haters club”. It was the best we could come up with in response to Little Rascals.

I love this place it’s my home and always will be, no matter if my parents one day sell it. In my mind it will always be my home and it will hold all my amazing childhood memories.