moving on...

i found out today that we are selling our house in aiken, my hometown. i grew up in that house and it's a part of who i am. my sister worded it so perfectly saying that the best and most happiest times were spent in that house and ever since she's moved out of it, it's been different. it's true. you grow up in one place your entire life and it becomes like a pet or a part of the family. so many memories are made and every sound the house makes becomes a comfort. that house on rolling rock road will always be part of who i am and it hit me like a ton of bricks when i was talking to my sister that it's just a part of growing up. people grow up and move on. it's how life is. it's not always easy, and yes, the johnson family is known for being overly sentimental...but at the same time, we hold onto certain things because they represent the intangible memories that we're scared we're going to forget one day. that house represents my family. my mom, my brother, my sister, taz, and me. she raised us. every day in that house felt like something special. we used to throw our vitamins down the vents before our dad got downstairs so he would think we ate those nasty things. my brother and i wet toilet paper and threw it onto the ceiling in our room when we were babies. my sister and i would stay up too late laughing and talking about our day almost every night in our bunk beds. the three of us kids sat at the top of the stairs EVERY christmas until our mom called us down to open presents. we woke up for school and would lay in our mom's bed for twenty minutes every morning, talking about the most random things, before we started getting ready. we made up stupid dance routines and videos with our cousins. we played legos and barbies all the time. i don't know how many times we fought in the kitchen and some sort of plate, bowl, or phone would get thrown on the floor. my sister overflowed the toilet upstairs and now there is a massive stain on the ceiling in the kitchen. we played in that back yard for hours and hours with our neighbors, the murdaughs (the best neighbors anyone could have). our living room has more memories than any other room in the house. we had every birthday and christmas there. we played board games with the family countless times. we found out about the divorce in that room. we watched cartoons there on saturdays and movies there at night. my mom always took out her encyclopedias when she saw something on tv she felt like researching more. my mom used to yell at us upstairs from the living room if she heard us creaking around on the floor past our bedtime. that house is full of emotion and happiness. i've grown to not see it as my home in the past couple years ever since we moved up to greenville and my granny moved in, but in the same sense, not having that very comfort in aiken anymore is going to be so strange. anyways. to reminisce, i have pictures. they're all of either the house, or us in the house or back yard. take a look. this is mainly so i can look back at it and remember things. i love my family and i love that house. it's going to be sad to move on...