The House That Built Me

"The House That Built Me"

I know they say you can’t go home again

I just had to come back one last time

Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam

But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom

Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar

I bet you didn’t know under that live oak

My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory

From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years

From Better Homes and Gardens magazine

Plans were drawn and concrete poured

Nail by nail and board by board

Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory

From the house that built me

You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can

I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I walk around I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory

From the house that built me

Just last week I said goodbye to the house, my house, that I grew up in and that I loved. Unfortunately, with my family's current situation, it's being sold. My heart broke when I knew that this past Christmas would be the last time I was there, and before I walked out the front door for the final time, years of memories flooded through my mind as I walked around my home. Memories too many and too precious to name each one.  I remember doing homework in the dining room while mom cooked dinner, I remember arriving home each day from school to find my basset hound, Huckleberry, waiting to greet me at the top of the steps, I remember Friday and Saturday nights with friends (laughter and games and conversation ringing through the house until curfew was upon us), I remember high school proms and piano lessons, I remember sitting on the back patio listening to the waterfall and looking out into our spacious backyard, I remember the smell of Christmas (all year round) every time I walked through the front door, I remember practicing golf in the backyard and riding my bike in the front, I remember sitting on the balcony outside my room in the evenings, I remember my room-the pictures, the books, the decorations, the music boxes. I remember Sunday dinners, I remember playing with my dog and listening to my birds talk, I remember chalk drawings on the driveway and Christmas lights, I remember bringing Jeff there for the first time to introduce him to my family, I remember the many road trips from Provo to Las Vegas, and the feeling of "home" I felt as I opened the front door. 

I'm not sure whether it's weird or not to say "Thank You" to a house, but if I could say anything to my house, that would be it. Thank you for providing a place for me to grow, to learn, to become, to excel, to remember.

Even though I might not be able to "go home again," really I'll always be home-through memories of the house, my house that built me.

I know they say you can’t go home again

I just had to come back one last time

Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam

But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs,

in that little back bedroom

Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar

And I bet you didn’t know...under that live oak,

My favorite dog is buried in the yard.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory...............

.............From the house that built me.


Mama cut out pictures of houses for years

From Better Homes and Gardens magazine

Plans were drawn and concrete poured

Nail by nail and board by board

Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory................

..................From the house that built me.

You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can

I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am.

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it’s like I’m someone else

I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could walk around I swear I’ll leave

Won’t take nothing but a memory...................

........................From the house that built me.