Much to my discontent, my parents have been gradually considering putting our house up for sale within the next couple of years. Driving throughout the Northwest Industrial or east side of Portland, my dad will make subtle comments about how much he would love to move to a house in this area or that. My mom will sometimes nod in agreement, arguing that our current house is too big for just the two of them to live in for nine months out of the year.

Sure, their reasoning is fairly justified. The more that I think about it, the more that it makes sense. My brother will graduate next year, and I will the year after that. Suburban, family-oriented neighborhoods have been unarguably more than ideal for our family for the past almost 22 years. While it almost breaks my heart to think that it may be nearing the time to put our home up for sale, it may also be time to take a realist approach to the situation.

So to the family who will buy our home next;

I hope that you absolutely fall in love with the view. I hope that you have dinner parties on the deck throughout the spring and summer and even into fall. I hope that your kids love the small backyard as much as my brother and I do.

I hope that you enjoy family dinners in the dining room that is not really a dining room—we just were never sure what else to do with it. I hope that your kids' mattresses slide down the main stairways with their friends. I hope that whoever takes my room falls in love with the nights when the moon shines directly through the windows and the mornings when you wake up to an endless valley of green.

I hope that you use the open living room and kitchen to host as many New Year's parties, football tailgate parties, and baking parties as we have. I hope that you appreciate how quickly and immensely the fireplace warms the entire house on winter snow days. I hope that you savor the incredibly clear summer nights that paint dozens of stars across the sky above our house.

But most importantly, I hope that you love this house the way that we do. I hope that this house becomes the home that you will always hold immensely close to your heart.

As much has changed throughout the past few years and as much as I may love my little college town home, this house will always be the home that genuinely framed my childhood. This house will always be the home that I knew I would always come back to.

I know that I still have some time left in my home, but if I am thinking realistically. I know that within a matter of years, a new family will be coming and my family will be leaving without return.

So, to the family who will buy our home next, take care of it.