A two-story suburban home stands in front of you, the brick driveway leads to the garage
that would never be opened due to the scary monsters that hopped if you dared to enter their
home. The porch is covered by furniture that was rarely sat on due to the freezing temperatures
during the fall and winter seasons. But if you were to walk by during the summer you could hear
cackling from the women who live there. Your eyes begin to drift toward the front lawn. It is
covered in annuals, an old weeping cedar tree and a Japanese maple tree, it may seem quiet, but
you missed the nights where the children ran around playing man hunt and trying to climb up the
old thin trunk. You begin to leave, drawing you jacket closer to your body, keeping warm from
the breeze that passes by, but something catches your eye. A simple homemade reef that hangs
on a blue grayish ornate glass door. The summer floral arrangement hangs tying the front all
together and a scripted welcome mat lays in place under the entrance. To you it’s just a door but
if you only knew what the inside holds.
The creaky wooden floors echo throughout the empty house. The untouched dining room
is to your right, the large dark brown table stands still because it weighs a thousand pounds. Try
not to hit your leg against the table because you will leave with bruises. There were many nights
of celebration in this room but as the years passed it was used less and less. Now it stands as is,
collecting dust and waiting for the next celebration. If you were to turn around and walk to the
formal living room you would see a fake, electric fireplace. On top there are pictures of people
who are no longer here, the various unfamiliar faces smile at you, their memories frozen in time.
The room is filled with family pictures and an old couch sits up against the large front windows.
The couch is quite comfy and there were many hearts to heart conversations held on the piece of
furniture. But to you, you could only see the flatten cushions and overly fluffy pillows. Then
there’s the one-hundred-year-old piano. At one time the children would bang on the instrument,
performing for their family members but now it stands old and out of tune. Every once in a
while, the youngest of the house will play a muscle memory song that consists of the same four
notes, something the oldest hates to hear. Then there’s the lazy house dog who licks your face
whenever you enter the door, she is found most days sprawled out on the antique rug in the
formal living room. Her chest slowly moving up and down as her legs jolt. Her dreams take her
on great adventures that lead her to bark and run in her sleep always leaving her owners to laugh
quietly trying not to wake her up. Leave her be because if you do wake her, she’ll give you the
death glare.
In the back of the house, you will find the kitchen where many Italian dinners were
prepared. Where the family laughs so hard they have to cross their legs and run to the bathroom.
To you it’s just a room that came out of a cooking catalogue but what if I told you that almost
every night, the fire alarm would go off due to the slightest smoke from cooking homemade
meals. It was where the children found a love for cooking, their first dish being homemade sauce
of course. Many Christmas’ full of homemade lemon cookies while music played in the
background. The kitchen used to be full of life, now it stands dull and empty.
The kitchen table stands between the kitchen and living room where many meals were
eaten together as a family. The set used to be low to the ground but after years of the house dog
chewing on the chairs, the owner of the house decided to upgrade to a tall kitchen table set. The
once crowded table that used to sit six now only sits three. Although the wooden chairs are
uncomfortable, and you would leave the table with a numb butt, nothing could be more annoying
than the lazy dog nudging your arm for food, acting as if she was starved all her life. To you it’s
just a wooden table set, but it held many laughs and many tears.
Finally, the living room, where no one from the outside can see. There’s a large television
on one side that gets really loud even if it’s on 4. And most movie nights were spent arguing
about what to watch. They always settled on something and ended up falling asleep 20 minutes
in. The small couch lays up against the windows in the backroom, facing the television. It is
quite uncomfortable and can’t fit everyone, but the family always makes do. When the movie
begins the house dog jumps on her ottoman and lays her head to rest once more. To you it’s just
a plain room, but it holds many nights where the family came together to spend an evening after
a strenuous week.
The front door is beautiful, and you can only imagine what lies inside. But as an outsider,
the imagination can run wild. What you can’t imagine is the memories within the walls that will
forever stay with the family who lives in the house. In the moment they don’t realize what they
were creating but one day when the house is quiet and empty, when the kids have gone off to
college and the sister of the owner finds a new home, the owner will decide it’s time to move on.
One day they will close the front door for one last time and leave the key for a new family.
Before they leave, there will be a moment of ache, because there wasn’t enough time.
To you it’s nothing but a blue door but to me it’s a home.