Dear Home,

Thank you for being a place of safety and refuge. Even when the world seems like a pretty scary place, I know that I can always come back to you and find my bedroom exactly how I like it. Although sometimes there are changes to your decor, you are still the same walls and rooms that I have come to know and love.

Thank you for housing the people I love more than anything in the world. To the people that drive past you each and every day, it may seem like every other brick house on the block but to me, it is the brick house where the majority of our family memories have been made. It's where we have celebrated birthdays, the birth of a baby brother, the loss of loved ones, and countless other things.

Thanks for giving me a place to stay all summer and during breaks. Even though I call South Bend home now too, nothing will ever replace good old LaGrange Park. Each and every time I have to leave I'm sad but I think of you often while I am away. I think about the flowers mom plants every year, the boys playing basketball in the driveway, and the endless amounts of family dinners and parties.

As I go through senior year, I realize that pretty soon I probably won't be coming back to this home as much as I would like to. I have no idea where my life is going to take me and as terrifying as that is, it's also really exciting. I could be anywhere but no matter what happens at the end of the year I know I can always come back home.