As I sit in the shadows of your structure and tears roll down my face, I say my final goodbye. Goodbye to the place that saw me grow into the person I am today, goodbye the place that held my family together, but most of all, goodbye to the one place I never wanted to see in my rearview one last time.

Walking through your doors was like walking into a hug I didn’t know I needed. To the outsiders looking in, you look like any other old house around here, weathered but still going strong. To the ones who have grown with you and lived with you, every piece of you is a memory. The front door where Santa would knock to pass out presents, the TV room upstairs that all the cousins would play Wii in after dinner, the laundry room where we would wait our turn to shower after a day in the pool, the backyard where we all spent hours jumping and diving into the pool driving our parents insane, the living room where we would all gather to share meals and stories and a couple hundred laughs. To the insiders, you were everything.

You were the safe haven. You welcomed everybody in with open arms, literally everybody- friends, family, strangers- nobody was turned down when the grill was lit and the stove was hot. Through the years the visits became less and less, but the love stayed strong. You were never forgotten.

As we all did our final walkthroughs, if you listened closely you could hear the laughter through the vents. You could smell chicken parmigiana being cooked. You felt safe.

As we all begin the new chapter in our lives, I hope that your new owners learn to love you as much as we did. I hope that they can see you for what you are worth and not try and change you into something you weren’t meant to be. We may be gone and never returning this time, but never forget the Alfaro family who loved you with everything that had. You were the best thing that could have ever happened to all of us and for that, we are forever thankful.

We will now hold the memories we had with you dear and close to our hearts more so than we ever have. You saw us all grow into the people we are today, and now it is our turn to watch you grow into something new.