A home is not just where a family lives. It is where memories are made, tears are shed, laughs have laughed, games are played and feelings are expressed.
Tan with green shutters- a matching green door, There’s a trailer in the front yard that carries Kenadee and Riley’s four-wheeler. Riley’s black car is parked in front of the fallen down basketball hoop, Vance’s black truck sits in the driveway. The yard is all torn up due to the snow plows coming a little too close to the lawn. An old, tall tree towers over a storm drain; hanging on it is a tire swing not used since 2010- collecting spider webs and overgrown branches. The hedges that surround the house are also untrimmed, so large Kenadee hid behind them all the time during a game of hide-and-seek. If you walk up the half painted porch, you’ll see a worn out welcome mat and a rusty orange leashed that belonged to beloved Magnum who we all miss dearly.
You walk inside to see the burnt orange walls of the hallway. This is where Kenadee throws her bookbag and takes off her shoes, occasionally tripping over them on her way out the door. Cali, the cutest English Bulldog known to man, lays in her bed when she is not laying in the way of everyone else. There is a wooden door behind the front door with holes in it as a result of fifteen years of slamming a door into another. Down in the basement is Vance’s hunting gear, Kenadee and Riley’s old clothing, and the washroom. The blacklights illuminate the basement a bright purple.
Kenadee and Riley’s old toys and old clothing replaced with a pool table and speakers that blare music past midnight.
You go back upstairs to the kitchen, the yellow walls and wooden cupboards that match the hardwood floor catch your eye immediately. The table in the center of the kitchen was bought for thirty-seven dollars at a garage sale last year. The fridge is decorated with school pictures, bills, graduation party invites, Christmas cards, and some baby pictures. The stove is cluttered with Vance’s important papers and the sink is overflowing with dishes Kenadee is too lazy to clean. Carol, Kenadee’s grandmother, just hung up a flower painting by Lee Reynolds that everyone despises; except Kenadee. Across the kitchen, at the counter, is where Shelley used to make dinner and gossip to Kenadee’s aunt every night.
Kenadee and Riley’s baby spoons and princess bowls replaced by school papers needing to be signed and Riley’s car keys.
The kitchen leads to the feeble living room. Smokey grey walls and a matching carpet, three couches, a computer table, a small fireplace, a set of glass sliding doors, a tv and it’s stand; and last but not least- a treadmill. The brown leather recliner was given to Vance from his own father. Next to the recliner is the computer table with a printer, air purifier, and a candle… but no computer. Behind the table is probably the most comfortable couch on Earth. To the right of the heavenly couch is an old fireplace with Morgan’s senior pictures, Kenadee and Riley’s baby pictures, the children’s portraits and Lynn’s first Navy representation picture. Above the fireplace are Vance’s kills, one fox, and about five or six deer. The fireplace is accompanied by the ugliest coral and gold couch that does not match the living room at all that was given to Vance by his mother. The tv is no longer used, and the treadmill was never used at all. Behind the comfortable couch, there’s a pile of blankets and stolen volleyballs Kenadee and Riley use frequently.
Kenadee and Riley’s forts and broken picture frames replaced with unused exercise machines and the depressing sight of being forgotten.
The sliding doors lead to the backroom. There used to be a couch, bikes, mopeds, and scooters stored here. The couch was for Magnum and him only- the couch is also gone now. The mopeds broke, the bikes rusted the scooters were sold to the neighbors.
Kenadee and Riley’s shenanigans and summer bike rides replaced with cobwebs and unused pool supplies. The door leads to the backyard that contains a shed, a non-working grill, a pool, and deck. Kenadee and Riley used to have a trampoline that sadly was destroyed when Kenadee was eleven. The ground is torn up from Magnum and Cali digging for who knows what. The pool has not been used in three years, so demolished that there is a tree growing through the liner. The paint on the deck is chipping and the shed is a spider attraction beyond one’s belief. Shelley always took care of the pool; when she left the pool wasn’t the only thing that fell apart. In the summer, when she’s stressed, Kenadee will climb on the shed roof and sit there- praying it doesn’t collapse.
Kenadee and Riley’s childhood laughter and pool parties replaced with an abandoned yard and memories barely remembered. When back in the kitchen, there’s a chain hanging from the ceiling… the attic. You pull the insecure ladder down and carefully climb, you flick the light flitch and suddenly the room is lit up. You’ll see objects that are meant to bring smiles and laughter regrettably looking like abandonment. Mattresses that used to be slept on by Lynn and Morgan, Shelley’s old sewing machine, Morgan’s roller skates, Lynn’s Raggedy Ann and Andy, baby clothes are more things that have been collecting dust for more than seventeen years.
Kenadee and Riley’s dolls and princess dresses replaced by iPhones and ripped jeans.
Walk back down to the kitchen. Across from the door is a white door with the initials “ KG “ hanging on the door- Kenadee’s room.  If you try to open the door all the way, it will smash into her bookcase- adding another dent to the previous collection. As told by the walls, the desk, and the tapestry, you can tell her favorite color is blue. Her pillows and sheets never match, she has posters and her own artwork hanging on every single wall, her closet is full of color-coordinated clothes and a broken shoe rack. Her tv sits on a dresser covered in stickers, her desk is cluttered with skin care, art supplies, perfume, a calendar and some odds and ends where she cannot find a place to store. Her vanity is dirty from her rare use of makeup and underneath her queen-sized bed is an abyss of lost items. This room is Morgan’s former room, where Morgan had her own seclusion.
Kenadee, Riley and Morgan’s late night sleepovers and watching The Help were replaced by Kenadee’s own sleepovers and a place to be alone when she cannot handle the responsibilities of a fifteen-year-old girl.
Leave Kenadee’s room and enter a new hallway. To the right is a wooden door that says “ Morgan, stay out “: Riley’s room. The light purple walls match her white and grey comforter, golden tapestry and wooden vanity. Her room is much more mature than Kenadee’s, though Kenadee claims hers is much more creative. This room used to be pink, with stuffed animals and bunk beds, and two life-size One Direction posters. Kenadee and Riley shared a room until the summer of 2016.
Kenadee and Riley’s zebra print bed-sets and tears from falling off the top bunk replaced with early morning makeup and late night homework doing.
I am made of cement, bricks, shingles and probably mold- but I give shelter, warmth, happiness and I hold memories no other home could hold. Here, tears are shed, memories are made, secrets have been gossiped, screaming takes place, and joy stays. I stay here for those who need me. The memories made inside of me will seep into my walls and stay there forever- even after the Carr’s have left.
I thank the Carr’s for choosing me to hold their memories as they started their family.