Trying to write more...Thought I’d share this little “slice of today”.

The House that Built Me

After officiating a funeral in my hometown, I feel the car wheel steering me off the highway towards the exit of Aberdeen.

“Just for a few minutes,” I tell myself.

I take the exit and just 2 minutes later, I pull up to one of the houses “that built me” like Miranda Lambert sings about. 520 Aberdeen Avenue was where I hung my hat during my teenage and half of my university years.

I am immediately flooded with memories that remind me of both past griefs and joys.

I am standing in the backyard wearing a bubble gum pink dress with puffed sleeves (just like my kindred spirit, Anne with an ‘e’). Dad’s arm is around me proudly as we pose for the picture… just before he takes me out for a “grade 8 graduation date night” at the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls.

Fast forward 5 years. I am posing with my sister and a group of friends from youth group in a long blue dress with spaghetti straps. Because “puffed sleeves” are now “ew”. Now it’s high school graduation. We are about to go celebrate with dinner, mini-golfing and posing for pictures in front of water fountains at the Falls. 1920s evening dresses for sale

I am 14 and in the back den area where I find out that my great Aunt Marg (who was like a grandma to me) has died. I remember collapsing with the shock and grief – the first death of a close loved one.

I get my own room! I am free to create a space just for me. Naturally, it includes a shelf displaying my porcelain doll collection. My powder blue and white “sponge-painted” walls are also adorned with posters of Michael W. Smith and DC Talk. *swoon*

This room holds memories of sleepovers with friends, dreams about future boyfriends and maybe one day a husband, many tears from a painful break-up and uber-analytical poetry written about it all in a book I still treasure.

I am standing in the back of the driveway, wondering if anyone would show up to my birthday party. They never do. Not one person. One of the profound moments when I felt the claws of rejection dig deep into my heart.

It’s my 16th birthday and this time, people DO show up!! The living room is full of friends – even friends way “cooler” than me in my estimation which feels like a total bonus for this nerd.

I see the piano where I started teaching a young girl from church for $2/ lesson. I also remember my tears of frustration through the hours of forced practicing and smelling the finish line (yes you can smell it!) as I prepped for my grade 8 piano exam.

And I see the basement where countless hours of imaginative play are spent with my sisters. I especially smile when we play store/school/bank, etc… The basement is also where the grape jelly is stored that we made from the grapes on the vines we didn’t plant.

I’m half way done my undergrad at university and my parents tell me they’re making a move to Chatham. Hello “leaving the nest”. Goodbye free housing option while in school. Hello new found freedom and adventure. I’m ready.

Amazing what a simple image of a house can stir up, eh? # TheHouseThatBuiltMe