Personal Narrative: A New Home

“Welcome home,” my mom said as we unlocked the front door for the first time to our empty house. Moving a half of mile down may not seem a lot, but it was a huge change in my life. I couldn’t picture spending every day with my family in the other houses we looked at. As hard as I tried to picture us there, I didn’t see it. Once I saw the house only four streets down, I imagined myself and family there. This is the house where we would spend countless hours being a family together: fighting, talking, and loving. Although I couldn’t wait to move, leaving my friends would be a heartbreak.

My neighborhood friends were family. Chance, Abby, Kristine, and I, we were the original 4. We spent every hour together from 3:30 at their doorstep asking

The smell, yep, still there. It didn’t go away for weeks. The weeks dragged on as we set up the house. The house transformed into a brand new home versus a maze a boxes. Our noses got immune to the smell. As the smell faded away, the smell of paint soon begin to overpower the house. All I remember is thinking how awful our new neighbors thought we were. The configuration of my room soon began. My newly painted gray walls soon began to fill with many different pictures and paints. My 7th grade Industrial Arts bookshelf holds a picture of my great grandma and my Confirmation saint. My nightstand holds models of drag racing race cars. My bed sits in the middle of my room with a “U” shape of free space. All the walls are filled with homemade canvas painting, all with encouraging sayings. Lights are strung at every corner of the ceiling. My brand new room is all

New memories replaced the old, but the special ones stay close to heart. The best part about moving is getting puppies! We have two dogs, Nitro and Buster, who we adore extremely even if they give us trouble. Our new neighbors have become family. I babysit all the kids on our street. I see all the kids riding up and down the street, reminding me of my neighborhood friends and I. I have grown over the years. I have become extremely independent. I have appreciated the family time. I appreciate everything my family and friends do for me. My family was always a big part of my life, but now they are my whole life. We now own a house versus renting one, so we can make it more of our family home. We have spent countless hours outside together doing home improvements; adding a flower garden, a sidewalk, retaining wall, and planting many beautiful flowers. We are currently finishing our basement to add space for family time. I can already picture memories sitting on the couch watching drag racing on a Sunday afternoon.

“Lets go Erica. Beat him,” dad screams, as he jumps up almost hitting his head on the low basement ceiling. All these future memories in my new house but only a short period of time, as I begin to move out in the next year. I will begin my story again with new adventures in my new