I didn't realize how attached I would become to my house until moving became a reality. I’ve lived in the same house for eighteen years of my life and it’s the only house I have ever known. It was never just walls and furniture, it always felt like home. It gave me the childhood that allowed me to grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It gave me the space to grow into the person I am today and I will cherish that forever. It was filled with so much love, laughter and faith. It was my safe haven and saying goodbye is going to be extremely hard.

This house has so many memories that hold a special place in my heart. It was there through every milestone. It was there through my phases of liking Justin Bieber and . It was there when my brother and I would sneak downstairs to watch Saturday morning cartoons. It was there for the pillow fights, floor hockey games, karaoke, dance parties, hide and seek, when I attempted to play the trombone and the piano. It was where I got my first digital camera and my first professional camera. It was there through the dreaded 5:45am alarms and getting ready for school, when I took pictures in my first prom dress, when I lacked cooking skills and burned three bowls of mac and cheese, when my cousins slept over and we would play mariokart, when I got my drivers license and my first paycheck. It was there for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, holidays, and family gatherings. It was there through spring cleaning and renovations. It was there through my failures and my achievements. And it was there for all the emotions and little moments that I will miss every day.

I am going to miss the street because it is shaped like a nine and instead of just driving straight home, we drove around the circle just to finish listening to a good song. I am going to miss riding my bike around the circle and walking to my memere and pepere’s house in the summer. I am going to miss the neighbors who are always sitting outside enjoying the sun and the dogs that walk around with their owners. I am going to miss the tree in the front yard my friends and I used to climb and the garage because my cousins and I used to bounce a ball on it and play catch. I am going to miss the deck where we ate breakfast when the weather was nice and the backyard because it is the perfect size for a summer party or cookout. I am going to miss playing baseball and having to run to the neighbors yard to get it back. I am going to miss playing volleyball and badminton on a hot day and then jumping in the pool to cool off. I am going to miss playing water basketball and marco polo, and swimming in circles and making a whirlpool. I will miss when my dad, uncle, and cousins would have us stand on their hands and throw us in their air to see how high we could go. I will miss having splash contests, talking to each other underwater, and seeing how many toys we could get in one breath. I am going to miss going night swimming while we stare at the stars. I will miss sitting on the swing by the bonfire and eating smores while we listening to my brother and his friends play music.

I am going to miss the animals that make a home underneath the shed and the birds that make a nest under my air conditioner in the summer. I am going to miss my window that was perfect for watching storms and my Utah shaped ceiling. I am going to miss the playroom where we built legos and lincoln logs for hours and the window that we climbed through to sit on the roof. I am going to miss the squeaky cabinets in the kitchen and the island we used to run around. I am going to miss building block forts on the kitchen floor and building forts out of the cushions, pillows, and chairs. I am going to miss the basement where we’ve spend a great deal of time playing board games and watching movies with the dimmed lights that made it look like a movie theatre. I am going to miss decorating the hutch for Christmas and putting up the ornaments and stockings in the breezeway. I will miss hanging out in the living room and watching fraiser when I am sick. I will miss the dining room where we play cards almost every other night. I will miss going to my memere and pepere’s house every Sunday.

I will miss my house so much and I hope the people that move in after us enjoy it as much as I did over the past eighteen years. I hope they find growth, happiness, laughter and memories that they can cherish forever. And when I drive by the street I grew up on, I will look back on my childhood with bittersweet feelings in my heart. I will be sad that we had to leave after being connected to it for such a long time but I will be filled with excitement for the new memories I will build in my new house. I will never forget this house and I am so thankful that it was such a big part of my life.