Okay... so I downloaded a BUNCH of pictures last night from the last two months. I can't believe I still haven't posted pictures from Easter, etc. I'll get to posting those pictures soon. But before that... I've got some deep thoughts. Perhaps it's because I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night or because it has been a long week as we started a new adventure at our house, but on my way into work I heard a few songs that really touched me and wanted to share a couple of them and my thoughts about such...
Amanda Lambert's new song: The House that Built Me
A song not actually written by her, but one that touched her as she thought of her house in Lindale, TX. I think this song can ring true for many. I know it does for me.
I have yet to blog about it, but a few months back my parents sold the home I grew up in. The home where my youngest brothers and sisters were brought home. The home where my father and grandfather built a "playhouse" and a fort for us. Where the smell of roses from my great-grandmothers rose bush filled up one side of the backyard and where the smell from my mom's gardenia plants filled the other. A place that held my beloved Laura Ashley pink flowered wallpaper from my little girl days. A place where my older sister and I sang rounds of songs before going to bed, and my younger sister and I played Barbie in the closet. Where my brothers gave me black eyes and bloody noses. Where we sat on the stairs waiting to see all the fun things Santa brought. Where we spent nights hanging out in the hot tub with friends. Where my dad waited for me to get home from school to tell me grandaddy had passed. Where my husband proposed. Where I spent my last night before becoming a married woman. The new owners may not know that my dogs and cats are buried in the backyard and that my hand prints from the bathroom "graffiti" wall are long covered up. There were good times, and also bad times in that house. But in the end it's the place I grew up...and the house that built me.
So you ask... am I sad that it is sold. NO! There is a time and place for everything. And we all grow up and move on. My youngest brother graduates from college in one week. To say that I am proud of him would be an understatement. He, and the rest of us, have all begun to buy and build houses of our own, homes that perhaps our children will grow up in. But it is not the house that makes the home; it's the people in it. The times spent and the memories made. A house is just a place to make those memories. And the memories... those are the important things. That is what we take with us as we travel on.
So to the new owners-- I'm so excited for you! I hope that the house that built me, continues to build others.
The House That Built Me Lyrics:
I know they say you cant go home again.
I just had to come back one last time.
Ma'am I know you don't know me from Adam.
But these handprints on the front steps are mine.
And up those stairs, in that little back bedroom
is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar.
And I bet you didn't know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard.
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like i'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself
if I could just come in I swear i'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.
Mama cut out pictures of houses for years.
From 'Better Homes and Garden' magazines.
Plans were drawn, concrete poured,
and nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama's dream.
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like i'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could just come in I swear i'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.
You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can.
I got lost in this whole world and forgot who I am.
I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
this brokenness inside me might start healing.
Out here its like i'm someone else,
I thought that maybe I could find myself.
If I could walk around I swear i'll leave.
Won't take nothing but a memory
from the house that built me.
