For 24 years I called one place “home.”
Yes I went away to college, had dorm rooms, apartments etc but my childhood home was always home.
I still slept there on Christmas eve and birthdays, still went there for dinner at least once a week and always always came home to that home.
Well last week that home sold. Granted I haven’t lived in it for over 4 years and 3 years ago my mom had it knocked down thinking the lot would sell faster than the house. It sat on the market in the worst economy for 4 years and now someone else will build a home on the property that I call mine.
I took my first steps in that kitchen.
I had my first kiss in that backyard.
I shared laughs with friends, built forts, played in the mud and learned to ride a bike there.
We took prom and homecoming pictures in my front yard.
My first car was delivered to me in that driveway.
We jumped off the roof onto the trampoline more times than I can remember.
We used the front bushes to spy on people.
I set up a million lemonade stands at the end of the driveway.
I had my bike stolen after 4 weeks of my parents telling me to put it in the garage(I still think my dad took it just to teach me a lesson.)
It was the last thing I saw the morning I left for college and the place I was most excited to come home to after a month of being away that first semester.
My mom moved out when I was 24 and I cried for 2 days. No one else seemed upset but me. Is that weird?
I think no matter how many places we live in our lives or how many houses we move to there is one place we will always remember as home.
Now mine belongs to someone else.
Where I learned to walk…
Spring break “gymnastics” with my best friend in 9th grade
Do you have one place in mind you consider “home?”
Yes, my childhood home. It’s still in my family but it’s not the same, it’s been added on to, changed and the yard is not the beautiful yard that my parents kept. It’s hard sometimes to go there.
So many memories and honestly the place I go to in my mind if I need to chill out and remember happy things 🙂
I hope my parents always keep my house, but i know they’re interested in selling it. I lived there all of my life as well, until college, but was often home on weekends and always on holidays. Just cherish the memories you do have! 🙂
We moved from the only home I had ever known when I was 6 years old. The house went on the market and the day they loaded up the moving van, I was devastated. When no one was looking, I went to be bedroom and wrote my name inside my closet with a piece of hot pink chalk. I would have used a Sharpie if it was available, I’m sure, but the chalk was there and pink was my color. In my little girl brain, I needed to lay claim to what was mine. Imagine my fear when I learned that the house would not be sold, but instead my aunt would be living there. I thought for sure I was busted. But nope. No one found my juvenile signature for years when I pointed it out on a trip home for the holidays.
In fact, my parents live in that house again and I think it’s still there in the closet.
My Dads house is definitely still “home” een though I moved out 10 years ago.
My childhood home is where my dad still lives…. He has talked about selling it but I can’t bear the thought… I told him Matt and I would live there and pay rent if nothing else…. I have my little memories scattered all
Over that house including a note underneath the loose trimming in my room with a marble which was one of my favorite things at the time!
Aww this is so sweet! My one place I’d consider home was my grandparents home that my mom grew up in. It houses another family now, but when I visit PA and we drive past that house I always think of great memories! <3
What a bittersweet post! Growing up we moved every few years, so if I had to pick one place, it would probably be my grandmothers house. Everyone knows if they can’t find me or we lose touch, they can go there to track me down.
Such wonderful memories! I hope we stay in our house for a very long time! If we have kids, I want them to grow up in this house and have a similar connection to this house! All I can think about now is Father of the Bride Part II!
Oh I totally still call my parent’s house “home.”
I haven’t found home yet. I did grow up in a single wide trailer for the first 13 years of my life, but that wasn’t home to me. When it was tore down it didn’t bother me a bit. I miss the memories, forts, and friends I had while I lived there but I don’t miss the trailer itself. Hopefully one day I find home.
It’s totally not weird that you cried! I would too! <3
This makes me sad for you. I still drive by my childhood home {like a creeper} and usually make comments like, “can you believe what they have done to…& why would they put THOSE curtains up” So, no it wasn’t wierd to cry! Thankfully, you still have the pictures for forever memories!
xo,
kristin
http://sevenone2.blogspot.com/
i would be devastated if my parents sold my childhood home!!
my home is the home I grew up in from 2-20. My mother still lives there and walking in the house I feel instantly at home. I will be lost when it’s time to sell or whatever will happen.
Yes!! I think that we all have that one place :). Made me sad when my parents moved too. So many memories. I still get a little choked up and nestolgic when I hear “The House that Build Me” from Miranda Lambert 🙂
I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’ve lived in 3 homes (with my family) since I was born, but the last one we lived in, where they still live today, I consider my home. I was there since I was 10 years old and that’s the home my sister came home to after we adopted her. My parents have been looking to down-size and sell the home. While it’s not up for sale just yet, I know it will be soon, and it breaks my heart. Thankfully we all have pictures and memories which help but it will never be the same.
I completely understand this. My “home” hasn’t been owned by anyone in our family for about eight years and I only spent eight years there. I’m kinda sad I can’t really ever go back, but I’m glad I’ve got pictures.
I love this!! 🙂 I have two places I call home now… my childhood home and now our home, but I love them both so much! I totally get the feeling of loss. At least you have those memories!!!
I just got goosebumps. I feel the exact same way about my childhood home. I sometimes think about how I will feel if my parents ever sell it, or God forbid, die and we have to sell it. I don’t even live in Massachusetts anymore (for now) but it is STILL home.
My home will always be my grandparents house in my hometown in NJ. That was home to me and always will be. I will have to write a blog post on that soon. thank you for your memories
My home will always be my folks house in Maine! Miss that place! love the post!
My parents have lived in so many different houses, that choosing a “home” in one of their houses would be difficult. However, my grandparents haven’t moved since before I was born. When coming to visit, I will always remember the palm tree lined streets, the room that my siblings and I shared. The kitchen where my grandma made cookies and let us lick the spoon. My family thought it was odd when I told them that I always considered this place home, but it’s the one place that has always stayed consistent.
oh man Neely I could have written this myself. I remember when we moved out of our first family home, I would drive by it sometimes and see they had done something different to the house, and I would be SO mad, like, how dare you, that is MY old house. We moved once from that house and it is THEE house everyone congregates too. For every special event, every holiday, and my mom has been talking about moving into a smaller condo and my heart will just BREAK! I know EXACTLY how you feel. 🙁
Oh I so could have written this. When my parents divorced three years ago and sold my childhood home I literally felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I was all grown up, married, and had a baby and I still cried for days. Just something about your childhood home that holds a special place in your heart!
This is so sweet! My parents still live in our childhood home but we just moved from our “first” house! It was definitely bittersweet.
I know how you feel! My mom told me she wanted to sell the house I grew up in and I cried for like a week! I live more than 8 hours away from my parents but when I am sick, sad, or lonely that is where I want to be, where I want to come home to for the holidays! Luckily I was able to talk my parents out of selling for the moment!
Aww, I would feel the same way! My parents house will always be home to me, so many memories there.
I guess not really one place but a state. With Dylan’s Air Force career and having to move, we’ll always consider Oklahoma home. We’re always sad to leave but we know that we may settle there again someday!
Aww! Sad but also exciting that someone else will build their new home where all those memories took place! My mom moved when I was in college. Don’t get me wrong.. I was glad she did. Our house was the one we’d shared with my dad and if I’m being quite honest, I think it reminded her of him so much that it was really hard. So, I was sad to be moving, but also happy for her. That said, it was SO weird to go “home” during the summers from college to a room I’d never really lived in before. So weird.
I don’t really have one place. Well, not one place that is happy anyway. I wish I had half the awesome memories you have. Sorry that it will be someone else’s now.
So sweet! We moved around so much, but I have two houses that I consider home: one where I spent my elementary years and one where I spent high school. Luckily, we only moved out of state twice (in kindergarten and 7th grade) and always came back to the same hometown and similar neighborhoods so I’ve got all my memories with the same people.
I still think about my childhood home often with very fond memories 😉 luckily my parents now live in my grandmothers former home and I feel sure that they will be there for the rest of their lives. So many memories from that house as well 😉
I still have dreams sometimes where my home is actually my parents home where I grew up. I have lived in loads of places since (and they have moved) but I do think it stays with you.
Sarah
http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk
I couldn’t bring myself to drive by my house the last two times I was I’m Texas. I couldn’t bear to see it without my parents in it, our cars in front, flag flying, etc. Too sad to think the house I spent (most, if not some part of) every year of 25 years of my life in, isn’t my home anymore.
I couldn’t bring myself to drive by my house the last two times I was I’m Texas. I couldn’t bear to see it without my parents in it, our cars in front, flag flying, etc. Too sad to think the house I spent (most, if not some part of) every year of 25 years of my life in, isn’t my home anymore.