What a Home Means to Me

A home isn’t always a place with clean furniture and a clean place to sleep. A home to me is a place where all the memories are latched onto the furniture and walls, every hole in the wall and every stain in the carpet, from iced coffee to hot chocolate. Every sharpie mark on my bed frame to all the slime stuck to my carpet. The sound of my cat meowing outside my door for me to let him in. All the cat scratches on the wall from every cat we've had. Every time I would sprint out the door to our chickens. And all the times I taught myself gymnastics skills in the living room. All the times my cat got scared by the thunder and lightning. And the smell of the sugar cookie tart burner that smells like someone was baking all day. And all the family reunions. From Thanksgiving and Christmas day where laughter fills the air. Also, a home doesn’t mean everything is perfect. A home isn’t always perfect; a home may have cracked walls or lifted floorboards, and some people's homes even have mold and broken glass, so you never know what someone is going through. Some people don’t want to go home because they are embarrassed by their home or don’t feel safe. Home to me is when you walk in from a long day of school to a nice warm kitchen with food in the oven. But home is different for everyone.