A House, Into a Home

When I was young, my parents divorced, and I had two places to go. One was a home, where I had my belongings, memories, and I felt comfortable. The new one was new, empty, no memories, and felt different; it was a house, not home. But a house doesn’t need to be a house; we can make a home, and that we did. We made meals together, played board games together, stayed up late and watched scary movies, and created memories together. We made it a home, together. We made a safe space together. Then I heard it. My dad was moving as well. I was devastated. I had lived in that house my whole life, in my dad's home, and we were leaving. The new house was beautiful, but like before, it was just a house; we needed to make it a home. Once we returned to our dad's house after school, all our belongings were moved inside, and we spent the whole day organizing, cleaning, and rearranging our things. I loved my new room and house. But after all that, I realized, memories and belongings don’t make a house a home; we do. Being with my parents made it a home; it doesn’t matter if we had no belongings, because we had each other, and in the end, I feel it was a good thing that my parents split up because we made the very best of things, made new memories, and had amazing times together. And this is how a house doesn't need to stay a house, you can make it a home. Thank you, Habitat for Humanity, for helping so many people make a house, a home.