In This Place
I am the type of person who has the ability to create an ordinary moment and turn it into an extremely sentimental and meaningful moment. The night before my 13th birthday, I cried myself to sleep because I didn't want to become a teenager. But to my surprise, I woke up the next morning with a letter from my father slipped underneath the door. He wrote the letter that previous summer in the Boundary Waters. In the letter he told me what he loved most about me and how I made him proud. My father is also one, to make moments which are ordinary into ones that carry meaning and sentiment. For which I am grateful.
This weekend, my sisters and I made the 9 hour car ride up to the Twin Cities to say a final goodbye to our childhood home. My family moved five years ago, but until recently we have rented out the house. It went up on the market last week. I hadn't been inside the house since the day we made the move from Minnesota to Kansas. I was hoping all of the renovation and updates my parents had put into the house would soften the blow - but it didn't. Even with the new coats of paint, hardwood floors, and furniture, it was still the same house. The same kitchen my grandma taught us how to make homemade cinnamon rolls, the same dining room that hosted numerous Bender thanksgiving dinners, the same living room that heard my mom practice piano for Sunday mornings and my sisters practice for their piano recitals, and the same small bedroom that heard my distraught pre-teen prayers to God.
It's overwhelming to come back to a place that carries your entire childhood.
I know it's just a house. A place with walls, and doors, that shelters people from the cold and rain. But to me (and my family), it's so much more than just a house. It's even more than a home.
3984 Scheuneman Rd is the place where my dad, my uncles, my sisters, and myself experienced the joys of being a kid. In this place, my grandparents and my parents were able to see their children experience the joys and pains of growing up. In this place, my family grew in number...and dysfunction. In this place, the entire Bender family felt familiar and situated. In this place, a family found and created love.
Saying goodbye to 3984 Schueneman Rd would be easier if I just saw it as a house. But because of the sentimental heart God gave me, I see it as a place that graciously gave an entire family a loving and incredible way to grow up in this world. And for that, I am thankful.
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This weekend, my sisters and I made the 9 hour car ride up to the Twin Cities to say a final goodbye to our childhood home. My family moved five years ago, but until recently we have rented out the house. It went up on the market last week. I hadn't been inside the house since the day we made the move from Minnesota to Kansas. I was hoping all of the renovation and updates my parents had put into the house would soften the blow - but it didn't. Even with the new coats of paint, hardwood floors, and furniture, it was still the same house. The same kitchen my grandma taught us how to make homemade cinnamon rolls, the same dining room that hosted numerous Bender thanksgiving dinners, the same living room that heard my mom practice piano for Sunday mornings and my sisters practice for their piano recitals, and the same small bedroom that heard my distraught pre-teen prayers to God.
It's overwhelming to come back to a place that carries your entire childhood.
I know it's just a house. A place with walls, and doors, that shelters people from the cold and rain. But to me (and my family), it's so much more than just a house. It's even more than a home.
3984 Scheuneman Rd is the place where my dad, my uncles, my sisters, and myself experienced the joys of being a kid. In this place, my grandparents and my parents were able to see their children experience the joys and pains of growing up. In this place, my family grew in number...and dysfunction. In this place, the entire Bender family felt familiar and situated. In this place, a family found and created love.
Saying goodbye to 3984 Schueneman Rd would be easier if I just saw it as a house. But because of the sentimental heart God gave me, I see it as a place that graciously gave an entire family a loving and incredible way to grow up in this world. And for that, I am thankful.
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