The House That Built Me

We're getting pretty fancy here, with the video and all.  Hopefully it works, if it doesn't, PLEASE let me know!

I am typically not a big fan of country music, but occasionally I will listen to it.  The workers at the house generally have the country station on while they are working.  The other day when I was there, this song came on.  It's called "The House That Built Me" and it's by Miranda Lambert.  She's pretty awesome. 

Anyways, the song is about a woman wanting to go back to her childhood home and soak in the memories, because, whether we like it or not, so much of a person is tied up in their past.  I almost had to leave the room because I got pretty emotional listening to it.  And yes, if you know me, I have the tendency to get emotional pretty often, but this is different.  This woman wanted/needed so desperately to go back to her roots.  It hit me for two reasons:  

1. In a few short (and rapidly approaching months) I will be leaving my childhood home.  The house that literally has my blood, sweat, and tears in it.  The house that my parents have lived in for 23 years.  Where they brought two children home from the hospital.  There are so many precious memories here, that the thought of leaving kind of breaks my heart a little.  It won't me mine anymore.  This bedroom will belong to another kid, who will make the walk every morning up to Tillman.  Who will have their own playground in the backyard.  Another family will sit on our front porch, and pull into the driveway that has our handprints at the end.

2.  As weird as it will be to leave this home and street that in so many ways made me into the person that I am today, I get to go to another home that holds just as many memories for my family.  We lose a home with many fond memories, but we get to make a home that is so much a part of the history of our family all ours.  It will be our name on the door now.  Those stories we tell of Grandpa always being so sweet to cut the grass before we used the slip-n-slide in the backyard (resulting in so many grass cuts), and the beloved address I knew before I knew my own home address.  It's ours now.

Two houses helped built me, and my brother, and my sister, and my mom and dad.  And while I can't even begin to imagine how hard it will be to leave one, we get to continue the growth of our family in another one.  The idea that our kids will get to go visit "Grandma and Grandpa" in the house where I got to spend so many loving memories with my own Grandma and Grandpa is the neatest thought of all.

Here's the video, and if you're anything like me, have a few tissues (or a whole box) ready!

**UPDATE**  If you click on the video it will say that it cannot be played, but there is a link within the message that will lead you to YouTube so you can watch it.