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There is something about certain songs that just stir up emotions in me that I don't understand. One of the recent songs that gets me choked up is "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert. Here are the lyrics:

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 that under that live oak

My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feeling

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

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years

From Better Homes and Garden 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 feeling

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

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 feeling

This brokenness inside me might start healing

Out here it's like I'm someone else

I thought the 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

Before I got married, I lived in four houses -- I really only remember two. I tried to find pictures of the outside of those two houses; however, as you will see, we only posed in front of fireplaces! So, here are the two fireplaces that were in the two houses that built me:

(Before I go further...yes, my sister and I used to dress alike ALOT in clothes our mom made us...what you don't see is usually mom had an outfit that matched us too!! Also, I don't want any comments posted on my '80's hairdo!!)

When I was in Albuquerque this summer, my mom, grandma and I drove past the house with that first fireplace. We moved away from there when I was going into the 9th grade. It was the first house I really remember living in.

It is located in the South Valley in Albuquerque -- not your prime real estate location -- on Tobacco Road. (See, the name says it all!) I remember many summer nights swinging on our swing set, playing in our playhouse out back, running through the sprinklers and watching the cotton fall from the sky from the cottonwood trees. For a few years, I had a horse and we would ride it down the road and along the ditch. My sister and I would play "Restaurant" a lot. And, I remember closing my bedroom door, putting on my Shawn Cassidy record and dancing to "Da Doo Ron Ron"! MANY family get-togethers were held there -- with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins running around. Any holiday was an excuse for a family meal.

We moved to the house with the second fireplace a year after changing schools. Our mom would drive for over an hour every morning before she got to work so that my sister and I could go to a great school. It about did her in so we moved closer to our school and church.

We had a beautiful backyard and once again, many family get-togethers were held here. We also had many church youth parties at our house. I went through my teenage years in that house -- got my first car, went on dates. Chris even proposed to me in that house.

I look back at both houses and where I came from. I am not "broken or need fixing" like this song says. But the one line that speaks to me is "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."

As I've gotten older and more removed from my "growing up" years, I can easily let my current surroundings make me "get lost in this old world". We live in a very nice area. There is beautiful house after beautiful house. I am easily pulled into the "I want a bigger, nicer house like THAT one." I get lustful over what everyone else has when I need to be thankful for what I have -- which is beautiful itself and more than I deserve!! My focus needs an adjustment every now and then.

I realize that it is not the house that built me but who was in that house that built me. Now, it is my turn to follow that through with my sons.