The House on Maple Street

It was the best feeling in the world...it was finally here; crisp mornings, the crunch beneath your feet of all the changing leaves that hide all of your summer secrets, apple and pumpkin everything! Knitted sweaters, tall comfy boots, yoga pants everyday and warm scarves covering your neck. Cornfields, hayrides, Thanksgiving, Halloween! Frosted windows and spiced air. Long bike rides on relaxing Sunday evenings. Blankets, hot chocolate and movies that never gets old. My favorite season and favorite time of the year where everyone has calmed down from their summer blasts and got back into the routine of school and it's almost as if mother nature knows when it’s time to cool down...warm days with a gentle breeze, the most perfect weather. With the occasional rainy days we all love to spend inside relaxing. So perfect and peaceful, but what I remember most of this beautiful season is where it was the best...it was in this house that I remember it being this wonderful. It was so comfortable, big and spacious, with the smell of Autumn everywhere. It wasn't anything fancy or expensive but it’s the one I remember most and the most clearly. Probably even my favorite. It had character to it. It had a comfortable basement, with old couches and a large TV in the corner, a tiny bar area in the back where we would set out snacks and drinks for the parties we had. While the upstairs consisted of a very large kitchen and living room. There were windows lining the walls in these two rooms, but in the living room there was a very large window, going from almost the top of the high ceilings to the carpeted ground. It had to be as wide as it was tall; taking up almost half of the wall this window looked out to the most beautiful mountain around the valley. Like a mural this window showed you one of the most gorgeous things natures given us. That was probably my favorite thing about the house itself, but my all time favorite thing was the backyard. There was a gravel drive way leading to a barn just behind the house and next to this barn was a horse pasture with, of course, horses living in it. In front of the pasture and the barn was a small grassy area where our dogs would run and play, and in the middle of this area was a huge tree that my brother and I would climb every day. I spent most of my time in the tire swing which was attached to the tree by a thick rope. I went there to think or just be alone and away from the world. This was the house I spent most of my childhood in. Growing up here made it my favorite place, I just didn’t know that until it was gone… thinking I wanted something bigger, something better, more expensive and nicer than that. When I got what I thought I had wanted though I finally realized it’s not what I wanted. I had just wanted what the rest of the world wanted. Now I want what I don’t have, what I can’t have. Its weird how that tends to work out, people wanting what they can’t have. Knowing this now I’m going to embrace what I have while I have it because I never know how much it’ll actually mean to me until it’s gone or passed. This idea, this thought, it was the perfect lift off for the rest of my life. Having this idea in my mind I’m a happier person, a more positive person and although I know I will I’m going to try my best to not take advantage of things that won’t always be there. Notice things others don’t and take it all in while I can because life keeps moving whether you’re ready for it or not. No one wants the house on maple street, they want the memories inside it. The memories that remind them of the feelings, the smells the thoughts they had in their favorite place.