Dear My Childhood Home,
I'm so sorry for abandoning you. I still think about you sometimes. I even sometimes have dreams about you, a year and a half after my parents and I moved out. Life just seemed to be so much simpler when I came home and saw you every day, up until the summer before 12th grade. Miranda Lambert's hit song "The House That Built Me" has taken on a whole new meaning.
You did not get to see me in my prom dress or my well-earned high school graduation gown. You did not get to see me start college. You barely even got to know my new dog (just to let you know, he's a lot calmer now that he's three years old).
I remember which stairs to avoid stepping on to avoid creaking when I came home at midnight. I remember the way the magnolia tree in the backyard bloomed so beautifully each spring. I remember my dad building a second set of stairs on the deck and then repainting the whole deck by himself. I almost forgot to ask..do you miss him? We talk about you sometimes.
But, even more than the aesthetics, I remember the happy times I shared with you. I remember having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the picnic bench with my mom when I was in preschool. I remember going to my first dance class ever and coming home and dancing around the house. I remember playing tag with my neighbors for hours on end during the summer...and having snowball fights with them in the winter (they moved away even before I did). I remember finally gaining the courage to climb to the topmost branch of that magnolia tree...and then doing it again a few years later and it wasn't as exciting because my feet now touched the ground.
I have moved out, and finally on, from you, but it was painful and I do miss it sometimes. Just tell the new owners that I want them to find as much joy and bliss as I did during my years with you. I'm aware that I'm no longer physically there and you merely only exist in my memory, but the childhood and teenage memories will be kept and cherished for a lifetime.
And, to the two young children currently living there: do not be afraid to climb the tree. You know which one I'm talking about. You only have a limited time to do so before the magic ceases.
Your all-time favorite resident,
Nicole
