It’s been a year since I left. I’m sorry I had to leave on such short notice, but it wasn’t really up to me. You had outgrown me. You had outgrown my family. But I miss you every day. Not because of how massive and grand you were, but because it was the only place that every really felt like home.

Growing up as a child of the military, I was so used to moving into a place and setting up my things and knowing they would never be permanent. After three years were up, I would have to pack it all up and move it somewhere else. I had become accustomed to the idea that home was not a place, but instead your family.

But then, we moved into you. Mom and dad said you were our forever home. I couldn’t believe it. Home was now this tangible item that I could see and touch!

It’s funny though. In the end I did leave you. Not because of the military, but rather because we grew up and moved on and out, and you stayed the same.

There are so many memories. Do you remember all of the times that us kids would climb off of the balcony and onto the roof late at night to get a better view of the stars? Do you remember when Erica and I would paint my room a different color every year because I wanted you to grow with me? Do you remember every Sunday morning when we would read the newspaper in the library? Do you remember all of the pool parties? Do you remember how we would always get the biggest Christmas trees because your ceilings were so tall? All of the days spent tending to your garden? All of the tears shed? All of the laughter my family and I shared within your comforting walls?

Sometimes I miss you so much it hurts. I miss playing fetch with Buddy in your huge backyard. I miss having family parties and renting dunk booths and bouncy castles. But most of all I miss walking in the door and feeling that sense of comfort that encases you when you return home. I spent ten years making memories with you. I spent ten years building a sense of family under your roof. You were my home and then you weren’t.

Now we have gone our separate ways; you have new inhabitants who need all of the space that you provide and we have gotten rid of things we don’t need and bought a smaller house. But you will always hold a place in my heart.

I want to thank you for allowing me to spend ten years of my life with you. I want to thank you for bringing my family and I closer together. I want to thank you for being the greatest house to play hide-and-seek in. I want to thank you for being the only place that ever felt like home.