We all go through change. We all grow up, become adults, and leave behind so many things and people. It happens, and we all learn to accept it. However, some things are hard to let go. Some things hurt a little more, and we try even harder to hold onto them. For me, one of those things is my house. It’s the place I’ve lived in for almost 16 years, the only place I remember ever calling home. It’s a weird feeling knowing you can’t call the placed you’ve lived for practically your entire life, home anymore. Seeing the for sale sign placed on your yard, taking down all your pictures from your wall, and putting all of your things away in boxes -- it just doesn’t seem right.

To some people moving may not be a big deal. It’s just another thing that happens; it’s just a house and that’s exactly what the next one will be. But when you think about it -- it’s so much more than that. The memories that you have created and the feelings that you had, they just all can’t be replaced. Knowing you won’t walk out your door, and wave to the people you grew up with, get to ride your bike down the street where you first learned to ride, or get to go face plant in the bed you’ve had for years after a horrible day are things I just can’t imagine.

I knew, one day, that I would not be able to do these things anymore, that when I moved out on my own things would change. But I always thought that even if I wouldn’t be living there anymore, it would still be a constant in my life, one I would always be able to go back to.

Having to let go of something you love is hard enough as it is, but when the thing you love becomes someone else's, it makes it that much harder. There is a difference between a house and a home. A home takes time to build. It’s filled with love, memories, and the feeling of being safe. After years of forming those things who would ever want to leave.

So, with a heavy heart I say goodbye. But I’ll lift my head up, put a smile on my face, and embrace the new chapter that is about to begin. Yes, change can be scary, but sometimes the best things can come from it. My new house, will be one to get use to. It will be a place that my family and I will have to build new memories in and, hopefully, turn it into not just a new house, but a new home.