To My Childhood Bedroom,

Im writing this as I sit on my new bed in my new room surrounded by pieces of my life that have gathered over the years. There is much more then I though there would be. I find my thoughts wandering to you, and all the time we spent together.

I miss the floor.

I miss the way the mid-day sun slanted through the tree outside my window and floated down to carpet in the middle of the room.

I miss laying there in that square of light, looking at the ceiling, contemplating the universe.

I miss my book shelves.

I miss the floor to ceiling shelves that held every adventure I had ever embarked on.

I miss climbing on them to reach the top shelves where I kept only my favorite books.

I miss my closet.

My closet, that when clean, could fit all my stuff and me.

I miss the nest of blankets and pillows I used to make in there.

I miss the glow-in-the-dark stars i stuck to the walls in there.

I remember after my first semester of college, in a fit of melancholy, I took a pen to the wall in there and scratched a poem into the side.

A Very Short Song by Dorothy Parker

Once, when I was young and true,
Someone left me sad--
Broke my brittle heart in two;
And that is very bad.

Love is for unlucky folk,
Love is but a curse.
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.

I hope that the next person that lives there appreciates the light that same way I did.

I hope they feel as safe as I did.

I hope they make as many great memories in that room as I did.

I hope that they grow up in that room, the same way I did: Among books, and adventures.

I hope that one day they discover the little hidey hole in the closet, and that they find the same solace that I did there.

And I hope that when they feel sad and their heart is broken, that they find that poem.

I hope that they add their own poem.

You were the best possible room to grow up in, and I thank you for being my home for the past 17 years.I'll miss you, but I look forward to fitting new adventures into the shelves in this new room. I look forward to sticking new stars to the walls of this closet. I look forward to pressing new poems into these walls. I look forward to finding new patches of light in places I've never been in.

With love,

Emily