Where My Heart is...

 Please refer to the first post for an introduction to this blog. Thanks for reading. :D

I thought that I would start with the one place that I have the most memories of - Home.

Nana and Papa's house has always been the one place in the world that I'd give anything to go back to. It has always been where I felt safest and happiest. We used to drive up there every summer and Christmas. I can remember flashes of things like pulling a wagon through the yard and picking up sticks so Papa could mow. I remember when Papa let me drive his lawn mower for the first time after I'd begged for years.  I feel like I should know that place like the back of my hand but it is constantly brought to my attention just how much happened that I can't remember. I may need to elaborate on some of these later. Sleeping in the back corner bedroom because it was my Mama's. Watching Disney channel movies on the old TV in the den every night. Dusting the wooden banisters for Nana. The two long green rugs along the hallway. They took exactly four steps to cross each with four small steps in between them. My baby pictures hanging on the hallway wall. Sitting on the step that led down into the den when I had a drink with me. Food wasn't allowed in the den. The long brown coffee table with its four knobs, one on each corner. I would pull them out and spin them like tops. Papa's recliner by the fire place that no one else was supposed to use. Whenever he wasn't in that chair then I wanted to be because it smelled like him. When he'd walk into the den I'd hop up an move to the couch as fast as I could. That was Papa's chair. He kept a hand held solitaire game in the side pocket at all times. I never could beat his score. The couch was orange with some kind of floral pattern but the image is blurry in my head. I haven't seen it in a while. One Christmas when I was sleeping on the couch I found a creepy eye in the pattern and it gave me nightmares. The fabric was rough and scratchy but in a lovable kind of way. Almost like the couch was reminding you that it was there so you would appreciate that it was like forty years old. I feel like it was nine feet long but I'm not really sure anymore. There were these sleeves of the matching fabric that covered the armrests on the ends. The fell off all the time but Nana would be very cross if she saw that they were gone so I'd check on them every time I sat down or got off of that couch. On Christmas Day my loaded stocking and pile of presents would be on that couch. Along with my sister's, brother's, and all the cousin's. Nana and Papa's was always the family's holiday destination.

And the poem I wrote ages ago....
Home

Home is where the sun sets over the pasture
Home is where he swings on the front porch
Home is where there is muffins and sausage for breakfast
Home is where you keep your feet off of her couch
Home is where they built you a tree house
Home is where you eat what she put on the table or you don't eat at all
Home is where he takes you to shoot coffee cans with the BB gun
Home is where the pasture is your childhood adventure
Home is where you take off your shoes before you walk on her white carpet
Home is where she sewed your mama's prom dress
Home is where that dog leads you through the darkness
Home is where he gives you tractor rides throught the pasture
Home is where you can go no matter what happens

Home is where the barn still smells of horses
Home is where you wish the horses never left
Home is where you get up at the crack of dawn to repair the fence
Home is where you watch him climb onto the roof to patch it
Home is where you pray he doesn't fall down
Home is where he has a childs doll hanging on his bedpost
Home is where she keeps every earring you made for her
Home is where their room is off limits unless theres a nightmare
Home is where the cats think they're dogs and the dogs think they're people
Home is where his stone rabbit sits in the garden

Home is where you don't turn your fork upside down before it gets to your mouth
Home is where you're up by six and asleep by ten
Home is where the couch is the comfiest thing to sleep on
Home is where you save the dinner scraps for dog food
Home is where you eat turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas no matter who is coming
Home is where you learn a new craft just because she can teach it
Home is where he takes you for a ride down to the strawberry fields
Home is where you sit on the hearth and watch them open presents
Home is where the family comes for the holidays
Home is where your cutest baby picture is on the wall for all to see
Home is where they're proud of you for everything you do
Home is where Nana and Papa Love you