Dear House That I Grew Up In

 Dear house that I grew up in,
Sitting here typing at my desk over four and a half hours away from home, I cant help but look forward to walking through those doors that I once thought held me captive and barricaded me from adventure. As much as I hated being stuck in that little corner I called my room, I can’t help but miss my bed, my room filled with all of my art, and posters. I miss you as much as a miss your inhabitants, a.k.a my family. You were a large part of my childhood, and even when I go back I can’t help but smile at that dinner table where I would have long conversations with my parents, host game nights with my best friend, dance around the living room with my cousin, and run in the halls screaming as if the neighbors couldn’t hear my brother and I arguing.
Three bedrooms, and one bathroom. Till this day I don’t understand how we all didn’t fight over the one bathroom in the morning. Every time I come home it’s like greeting an old friend. We had a love hate relationship, there was no place I could sneak out even if I wanted to. There was hardly any room to have friends over, but we all some how made it work in that small house. I still remember slamming the door to my room after an argument with my parents, vividly reminding them how many days I had left until I could go off and leave the house.
The walls that closed me in also kept me safe, they kept me from the dangers that the outside world posed. I owe you a huge thank you, mostly for giving me shelter and not making me a homeless person, but also for letting me live under your roof for 18 years.  Thank you for allowing me to turn your backyard into a basketball court, a batting cage, and allowing my brother and I to destroy several parts of the house when we played indoor soccer in the living room.
Thank you for taking in my old friends, and letting me make memories with new ones. For allowing me to fight with my brother over who gets the bigger room in the house, and for letting us decorate you with ridiculous decortications for the holidays, inside and out.
I would like to take the time to apologize for tacking up the pictures of my best friends on your walls, for drilling screws to hang up my trophy’s and plaques, for slamming furniture, for scratching your wooden floors dragging in music equipment in and out for band rehearsal (I am responsible for all of those scratches but blamed my brother).
Life was simple when that was what I could come home to. Thank you for that image. That image will never be erased from my mind. Thank you for being more that just a house to live in. Thank you for always keeping me safe, I promise to keep the memories safe with me for the rest of my life. Thank you for one amazing childhood. Hope you are ready for the holidays because there will be more memories to come.