Coming Of Age

Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood.
My dad and I got the word today that our old house was being torn down to make way for the widening of the highway that runs in front of it.  We both wanted to see it one last time.
The emotions were very intense and bittersweet.  
The demolition team was already there.  Apparently they had been working there for a couple of days.  Part of the house had already been demolished.  All that was left on that end was the brick fireplace.  As I made my way around to the back of the house my mind was flooded with memories.  Some good, some bad.
I stepped up onto what used to be the back porch.  It was covered waist high with debris. Boards, kitchen cabinets, old carpet and there in the middle was the lilac sink from my bathroom.
As a young teenager I would sit on the bathroom counter with my feet in that sink and put on my makeup. 
Then I turned and carefully stepped over a door and I was in the kitchen.  Everything had been removed. It was just a shell of room but I could still see my mother standing there making biscuits and chocolate cake.  She was the best cook ever.  She passed away a little over a year ago and I miss her.
They had removed all the sheet rock and insulation from the walls and ceiling so you could stand in one spot and see the entire house from one end to the other, from top to bottom. It looked so small.
I pictured how the dinning room used to look.  I saw my nephew as a toddler chasing our little dog Charlie around the table.  My nephew is now forty-two and Charlie is buried in the back yard.
I walk in the living room and I see my Grandfather.  A little green ceramic frog under the chair where he is sitting by the front door.
Down the hall is my brothers bedroom and then mine.  
My room.  The room where I played.  The room where I would hang out with my friends when they  came over.  The room where I lay my head at night and slept knowing I was safe because my daddy was in the next room.  
Across the hall is my mom and dad's room.  Bed always made.  No clothes on the floor or thrown over a chair. Everything in place.
I go back outside and I look at the flowers my mom planted,  The lillies, the roses and others I couldn't remember the name of.  Still alive after all these years.  There are the grapevines my dad planted and cared for.  With all my memories and emotions I didn't think to walk down and pick grapes. I will never get that chance again.  
I see my children here.  How they loved their grandma and papa.
This is the home I shared with my mother, father, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and children.
This is the house where I went from a child to an adult.  My coming of age.


Five Things:
1.  I don't like being the center of attention
2.  I'm hooked on Zaxby's chicken fingers
3.  I have a scar under my left eyebrow
4.  I wish I had started doing daily bible reading years ago
5.  I can't whistle