The House on Fifth Street

I drove by your old house tonight.  The one that is home to more memories than we can possibly comprehend.  As I stared at the house my brown eyes absorbed the scene and filtered the images to my heart.  My heart opened up and swelled with the memories that we have in this house.  Not two, not three, not even a hundred... but thousands of memories.   I glanced at the front door and with a smile on my face I recalled all the times that the two of you would race to it when you knew I was coming.  As I would wait by the door for my two best friends to answer, a common thought that would wait with me was, "I wonder if they'll have clothes on this time..."  Nine out of ten times that the door would open, you would both be there welcoming me with nothing but your underwear, a bow in your hair and a huge hug.  And then we were off.  Off to a world of our own where we would play for hours.  It was in this world of our own, inside this home, that the foundation for our friendship was built.  The narrow, steep staircase that led to the basement also led to our own chamber of secrets.  It was here that we felt safe and secluded enough to share the deepest desires, philosophies and secrets of our toddler hearts.  The bedroom on the main floor served as your fortress.  A fortress that you both welcomed me into on multiple occasions for some of the best sleepovers of my childhood.   It was in this fortress that we had our first late-night conversations and nail-painting parties.  Even the bathroom holds a certain sentiment in my heart as I recall the innocence of us three best friends bathing together after a long day playing out in the yard.  Ah yes, and the yard.  The yard adds a key element to the beauty of this house and to the beauty of my memories of it.  Tonight I saw that big tree and I could see that old teeter-totter sitting underneath it.  It seemed so real in fact that I could practically feel the teetering motions as I reflected on the hours we spent on that thing.  "Teeter-totter, bread and water..."  My eyes then wandered to the stream that runs beside that big, beautiful tree and flows through to the back yard.  For years the three of us have been known as water-lovers and much of our friendship has been spent jumping into ponds and streams, racing down water slides and late-night lake swims... but here, in this stream is where it all began.  I could almost see the three of us splashing around in the tiny stream that seemed like a raging river at the time.  We would race to catch water bugs, have splashing competitions and ultimately just enjoy the cool, clear water in the hot, summer sun.

Eleven years have passed since you left that house but it still seems like yesterday that we were conquering the world from fifth street.  The three of us have grown older since then (wiser too, might I add) and so has the house.  With time and experience the house has grown more beautiful.  We are not there anymore but the house still serves as the headwaters for memories of other children and families that have occupied it.  We too have grown more beautiful with time and experience in mind, spirit and body.  It has been over twenty years since our friendship began and since then we have had adventures together and on our own.  Each of us has set out to conquer the world in our own way using some of the philosophies we discussed with the brilliance of our four-year-old minds in that chamber not so long ago.  We have had our own educational experiences as well as traveling experiences.  But through it all, that foundation we built in the house on fifth street remains unshakable.  Even now, when one of you is serving a mission for our beloved Heavenly Father in the deep south, the other about to graduate college as a talented photographer, and me ready to set out on yet another international adventure... the foundation of our friendship remains ever standing firm.  Just like the house on fifth street, our friendship has been there for years providing comfort, love, fun, and memories and will remain in my heart for eternity.