No Place Like Home

The street stretched away from where she stood looking at the moving vans as they vanished around the corner, one after the other. Inside them were all of hers and her families belongings. The old recliner where she would climb up to reach her fathers lap as a toddler to watch TV and eat frosted flakes with him, the family table where they shared every meal they could since before she could remember, and all the furniture from her room that her grandpa built by hand. Not only that but they seemed to filled with the laughs, smiles, hugs, and stories from the days in this house.

Now they were driving away as if they would never return and she would have a empty whole in her heart for the rest of her life. "They will all be at the new house." she thought, assuring herself, but still as she glanced back to the only home she had ever known, she couldn't stop the feeling of sadness that had swept over her. The same feeling she had felt since the day she found out that they were moving to a new house in a new town. The workers were piling into their cars laughing and joking with each other, their job was done all the boxes were gone. She took one last look at the red front door that she watched her mom paint years ago, her window to her room where she watched the sunrise and set everyday, and the green yard where her and her younger brother used to play in a little blow up pool when they were just toddlers. She breathed a quiet helpless sigh that only she could hear.

Everything seemed like it was changing. This was her home. The things that she was used to were no longer hers, her house belonged to a different family whom she had never met. She liked the way her life was before. Would it never be the same? This was the house that made her the young woman she is today. The place where she was taught right from wrong, where she learned to walk and talk, where she learned how to ride a bike, and how to tie her own shoe. How could she just give that up without feeling upset? She felt as if all the memories would fade away the further they drove from the front gate that was now closing in front of her for the last time. She turned away from the only place where she felt completely safe her whole life and got into the car.

"Don't worry Addison, you might like the new place better." Her mom said seeing that there was something wrong.


As usual her mother knew exactly the right thing to say at the wrong time. She fought back the tears swelling up in her eyes. And swallowed the pain in her throat from holding it all inside for so long. She would look ridiculous crying over something so selfish. This was crazy, she was 17 and crying about leaving her home, when some people have never had a place to call home. She would still have a roof over her head even though she doubted it would feel like a home. One thing was for sure, the memories made in this house will be the ones that will stick with her forever, the ones she will tell her kids, and the ones that could never be written over or forgotten.